


When eyes can't look at you any other way.

by EverlivingGhosts



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Angst, Dark, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Romance, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-20
Packaged: 2017-12-04 04:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 57,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/706667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverlivingGhosts/pseuds/EverlivingGhosts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Martin's dark thoughts begin to resurface, can a certain Steward shine bright in the darkness?<br/>And what will happen when certain unwanted people from the past cause chaos?</p>
<p>My first ever attempt at a longer fanfiction and a romance, I hope you will enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, just thought I'd say a little something here!  
> This is the first time I've attempted to write a long fanfiction, and I hope I will be able to step up to the challenge! I am hoping to post frequently and I truly hope you will enjoy this as much as I am enjoying writing it! It is set definitely after St Petersburg, and I may be drawing from other episodes. I value any kudos and comments greatly. :) Also, sorry for the angst- I'm a bit of an angst demon!
> 
>  
> 
> Author Edit: Ah, this fic. It's the first really long fic I ever wrote, so please be understanding of the probably numerous mistakes in it. One day I shall give this the beta it deserves, but until then, please enjoy!

It seemed like Martin was having one of his bad days again.  
They used to be worse, back in the days when he was taking his CPL exams; whole days of blackness and gloom and barely being able to move his weak body out of his mess of a bed. He supposed that it must originally have come from a lifetime of being told that he was useless, would never manage to achieve the dream that he so desperately strived for. Some days his head was in so much of a fug that he found himself out of his abysmal excuse for a house and wandering aimlessly around the streets of Fitton. He only fought against these times when he snapped out of it and realised that his depressing thoughts had led him to dubious locations such as busy roads, the local lake and Fitton Bridge. He had often let his mind wander through dangerous paths, but although people were quick to judge Martin, he had never been a quitter. He tried to push the bad days away and focus on the bright patches he was sure would happen soon.  
Then Martin joined MJN.   
Almost without him realising it, the chaos and escapades and absolute fun he experienced with that motley airdot slowly drove away the darkness he would feel when alone in his dingy attic room. At first he thought that MJN would just be another place where he was ridiculed and laughed at, but as the days turned to months and eventually years he realised that he felt more at home with MJN than he had anywhere else. Although the bad days never wholly went, a smile or compliment from Arthur or even an exasperated yet fond comment from Douglas or Carolyn would remind him that he was liked, valued even.   
But, as was usual with Martin’s dismal life, all good things could not last. Although he knew Carolyn was not selfish and was fighting tooth and nail to try and procure him some sort of salary, it was pretty clear that it was either no salary and MJN stayed afloat, or some salary and MJN would surely sink to the ground. Because of this, Martin had to work himself to the bone through his poorly paid ‘man with a van’ job in order to just pay his rent, and every year what with petrol costs and rent steadily rising, it was becoming slowly harder to manage. He loved flying with MJN air, dear God he loved it, but every day he felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the dark mire of his hopeless mind. He tried to keep his work life at MJN separate with this feeling of hopelessness, but it was slowly becoming harder and harder to manage. Despite this, he went to bed at night, trying futilely to drive the darkness away with thoughts of the next flight, his heart and thoughts sailing through the clouds with G-ERTI.

And, sometimes, Arthur Shappey went to bed thinking about Skip, wondering why he seemed so sad lately.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Arthur is a sweetie :)

Martin yawned as he sat in his Captain’s chair, rolling his shoulders and waiting for Douglas to enter the flight deck. He was fairly sure he had seen him hovering round the hold carrying, with difficulty, lots of different types of cacti and long and hard won experience had taught him not to meddle. He was just in the middle of a particularly enthusiastic and drawn-out yawn when the door opened and a buzzing Arthur bounced in, shielding a mug in his arms protectively. Martin couldn’t help but smile; who else could be so cheery at four o’clock in the morning?  
“Skip! I brought you some coffee! I really, really hope you enjoy it!” Now that was an unusual stress on the enthusiasm, even though Arthur’s early morning coffee enthusiasm knew no bounds. Martin took the steaming cup somewhat suspiciously.  
“Arthur, have you done something to my coffee?” Arthur blushed at being found out so easily and his words came out in a rush.  
“Well not really, I mean I haven’t done anything strange to it, I made it just like Mum taught me with the beans and not to stir it too much even though stirring is really fun and sometimes I do it a bit too much and I make a whirlpool and it goes over the side-“  
Martin smiled; Arthur looked a little guilty but not a kind of ‘I’ve done something really weird but I’m sure you’ll like it’ guilty expression he usually wore when trying out his culinary experiments on unwilling pilots. He always looked so frightened when he thought people would be upset with him, so Martin tried his best to be gentle.  
“Arthur?”  
He took a deep breath.  
“Ok Skip, it is different from usual. But you can’t tell Mum or she’ll probably get annoyed with me. It’s a new blend.”   
Martin was a bit confused by this.  
“Why would a new blend upset Carolyn?”  
“Because I paid for it out of my own money.”  
“But Arthur, you don’t even like coffee!” Arthur seemed to blush even harder at this.  
“Well, if you must know the nice lady at the shop told me it was especially good for people who felt really tired which I thought was brilliant because it’s horrible when you’re really tired and have to stay awake for ages! I don’t usually feel that tired so I felt it was a pity to waste such a brilliant idea so I thought…I thought maybe you would like it?”   
It was Martin’s turn to flush now. Was it really so obvious how shattered he felt? The coffee did smell wonderful, nothing like the instant packs they were usually reduced to. He felt rather flattered that Arthur cared.   
“T-thank you, Arthur. I really-“  
“And who’s ready to fly some plane?” Martin’s stuttering thank you was interrupted by a spirited Douglas bursting through the door and flumping onto the co-pilot’s seat. He eyed Martin’s coffee somewhat enviously.  
“Morning Arthur, morning Captain! Ooh, that smells divine! Any more to go round?”  
And at that Arthur scurried off to prepare more. Martin stared after him in wonder, then turned to Douglas.  
“Douglas? Do I look tired?” Douglas cast an eye over Martin lazily.  
“What? No more than usual.”  
“Thanks.”  
Douglas looked surprised by his mournful tone and leaned over to inspect Martin more carefully.   
“Actually, you are looking rather tired today, Martin. I know, maybe you should go to a relaxation class, you know, meet some people, have some fun!”  
“Relaxation class? I don’t need to relax, I’m perfectly relaxed, who says I'm not relaxed?”   
Douglas rolled his eyes.  
“And don’t you sound it! No, I’m not talking about one of those weird chanting yoga classes or,”   
His mouth twisted bitterly.  
“T’ai Chi. Just something nice and fun that you can do in your spare time.”  
Martin just shook his head, a wry smile playing on his face.   
“I don’t have any spare time. That’s the problem.”   
And for once, Douglas didn’t quite know what to say to this. He knew as well as the rest of the crew how hard Martin had to work; although they hardly talked about it, it usually hovered in the back of everyones’ minds unpleasantly. Luckily, the silence that fell over the flight deck was not an uncomfortable one as the early morning sky seemed to be preparing for a lovely day at Fitton airfield. Although standbys could be a little wearing, Martin always enjoyed the moment before take-off, the knowledge that soon he would be soaring into the air and doing what he truly loved. God, the coffee really was nice. He would have to ask Arthur what the blend was called, although it would be a while before he would actually be able to buy some himself. When Douglas and Martin’s mugs were nearly empty, the flight deck door opened again and this time it was Carolyn that entered. Unusually for her, she was looking rather flustered, clutching many sheets of paper and her phone in an ungainly pile.   
“Morning, Drivers. I trust you are hoping for a calm and relaxing flight today,” Martin and Douglas could immediately sense danger coming. Douglas eyed Carolyn warily.  
“Ah, yes, we were rather hoping it would be a nice flight actually-“  
“Well, tough luck. I seemed to have accidentally booked a flight for the Queen Mother.”  
Douglas opened his mouth.  
“Not the actual Queen Mother, Douglas. I was being satirical. No, it is just someone who is trying to be insufferably superior.”  
“Well, we know why you two didn’t get on then.”   
But Carolyn didn’t seem to be in the mood for humour today. She bore down on Douglas with nostrils flaring dangerously, and even he quailed under her murderous expression.   
“I am not in the mood for this today Douglas. Nor am I in the mood for a whining old lady who is insisting on bringing her bratty grandson and among all things, a constantly yapping dog.” Martin frowned at this.  
“A dog? But, surely you must have told her she can’t have a dog on the aeroplane! It’s dangerous-“  
“Hah! Do you not think I have tried? But Her Royal Highness is refusing to cooperate and is insisting that her disgusting hound is a kind of guide dog even though she is not blind and I have never heard of a pug being allowed to be a guide dog. But I simply cannot be bothered with it today.”   
At the mention of such a tricky passenger, a light of mischief seemed to dance in Douglas’s eyes. Martin knew that look well. It usually ended up with something being thrown at him or him being stuck up a tree. However, this passenger did seem a lot like trouble, and they must be bad if they had rattled tough Carolyn so badly. Sometimes it was worth being a little unprofessional when the passenger seemed to deserve it.   
“Don’t worry, Carolyn. We will be on our very best behaviour. “  
Carolyn turned around to leave the flight deck, her voice ringing in their ears.  
“Dear God. I pity their poor souls.”

*** 

Arthur stood at the front of G-ERTI waiting to welcome the day’s passengers on board, his “Welcome aboard!” smile ready on his face. Although he could be rather muddled at times, or as some people claimed, incompetent, it could not be said that Arthur was bad at his job. Few people could be counted on to radiate constant cheeriness in the service industry, and it was a rare thing to have someone who wasn’t faking it. Because Arthur Shappey really, genuinely loved his job. Much like Martin and his love of flying, Arthur could think of nothing better to do with his life than what he loved most- helping people. It was just a shame that people often saw him as a bumbling idiot rather than someone who would bend over backwards just to help them. Sadly, the passengers today seemed to fall under the first category. Arthur saw a hatchet faced old lady approaching the plane lead by a scowling boy of about ten, but instead of warning bells ringing he just thought how wonderful it was that there was two passengers that he could tend to! Wow, maybe he could even convince them to play a board game? It was a fairly long flight to Barcelona. Oh, and a dog! Arthur loved dogs, and this one was running right at him! That was sweet, if not slightly too enthusiastic-  
“OUCH!” the dog bit his hand sharply as he bent down to pet it. The old lady drew level with him and screeched as he inspected his slightly bleeding hand.  
“Idiot! Don’t you dare manhandle my little Arnold; don’t you know how to treat a dog of his breed properly?”   
Frightened by this screeching old harpy, Arthur began to feel himself become flustered, which he knew always got him into trouble.   
“Well…n-no I suppose not, I mean I have a dog called Snoopadoop who’s a Cockapoo, but she’s not usually so bitey.”  
The lady swept the dog into her arms and shot Arthur a look of pure venom.  
“How dare you accuse my dog of such vulgarity? I booked this flight thinking that I was dealing with professionals! But clearly I was wrong!” And she went on in this vein for a good five minutes, her grandson leaning against the stairwell in boredom and Arthur trying desperately to try and stem the tide of annoyance. Eventually Carolyn must have heard the commotion and slowly made her way out of G-ERTI. Arthur, sensing his mother’s impending wrath, decided to shout,  
“GOOD MORNING MADAME, MY NAME IS ARTHUR SHAPPEY AND I AM VERY PLEASED TO BE YOUR STEWARD TODAY!” and he ran up the stairs and straight into the galley without another word. Despite his fright, Carolyn didn’t have the heart to be annoyed with him. She saw him try to hide behind the microwave and decided to sort the situation out herself. She turned to the lady and her grandson and put on her most shark like smile.  
“Good morning, Mrs Mortlock. I see you have elected to bring your dog as hand luggage. A wise choice.” Mrs Mortlock harrumphed.  
“Good morning indeed. Am I to assume that that hopeless young man is going to be our steward?”  
“I am sorry to tell you that ‘that hopeless young man’, my, ahem, son, will gladly deal with any problems or issues you may have during your flight.” She did feel rather cruel to Arthur when saying this, but it was always better with these kinds of passengers to assure them that they were going to get what they felt they deserved.  
“Well, I hope he is better at serving us than he was at greeting us. Come on William, let’s get this over with.” Carolyn ushered them onto the plane, slightly amused that Arthur had piled some paper cups on top of the microwave to try and conceal himself further. Luckily for him, Mrs Mortlock and William settled themselves onto their seats without much ado. Carolyn sighed; it was not going to be an easy flight.


	3. Chapter 3

“I want to see the flight deck.”  
“Ex-excuse me?”  
“I want. To see. The flight deck. “ 

Arthur cast his eyes around desperately, but Carolyn was sleeping on a chair as far away from the other passengers as possible and Mrs Mortlock had gone to visit the toilet. He was alone with William, and he felt rather out of his depth with this bossy young man. He tried to remember what his Mum had taught him.  
“I’m sorry, but you cannot visit the flight deck due to various safety issues, the first of which-“  
The boy slapped his hand on his armrest.  
“But I want to go!”  
Arthur hated not being able to give people what they wanted, but he was sure that Carolyn, Martin and Douglas had been very firm on this one.   
“I’m sorry, but my Mum and pretty much everyone else has told me it’s against the rules.” The boy seemed to quieten for a moment, then he looked at Arthur with a rather nasty look.  
“Listen here, fatty. I said I wanted to go and visit the flight deck and if you don’t take me right now I’ll tell my Grandmummy that you hit me.”   
Arthur was very shocked. He felt bad for sometimes giving the microwave a good whack when it did its funny beeping thing, held funerals for snails that he accidentally trod on. He would never ever hit a child. And fatty? Arthur was used to being called an idiot, but that was something else.  
“But…the rules…Mum…”   
William raised his voice.  
“Grandmummy!”   
“Ok, ok I’ll take you! But I'm not telling Mum!”  
With a smirk that Arthur was fairly sure ten year olds shouldn’t be able to do, William unbuckled his seatbelt and strode imperiously in front of Arthur. When they got to the flight deck door, Arthur knocked nervously. He thought that would give Douglas and Martin some warning because Arthur hardly ever knocked. True to this, he heard Martin’s confused voice through the shut door.  
“Err, yes?”  
“I’m just coming in, chaps!”  
When Arthur sheepishly entered with the still grinning young boy, Douglas pointed a finger.  
“Arthur, what is he doing in here?”  
“Well, I told him-”  
“He told me I was allowed, he said ‘Ooh come on I’ll show you the flight deck’!”   
Arthur could only gasp at the unfairness of this. He knew he couldn’t protest because no one ever believed him. Douglas sighed with exasperation.  
“Oh Arthur, we must have told you a thousand times. It’s against the law.”  
“Ooh, should I call the police then?”   
The flight deck rang from a resounding ‘NO!’ from the rest of the crew. Martin rubbed his hand and looked pointedly at Arthur and William.  
“You’ve had your look now. Go on, go back in the plane.”   
But William had skittered over towards Martin and the various interesting dials.  
“Wow, which one of these makes the plane explode?”   
Ignoring Martin’s sputtered “What?!” and Arthur’s typical “Oh wow, didn’t know we had one of those!” Douglas put on his most withering voice.  
“We don’t have one of those, unless you were thinking this was a cartoon plane?” William reddened at this. He reached out his hand to touch a button and, without thinking, Martin reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. Sadly, this was very bad timing as they heard a loud,  
“WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON IN HERE?!” It seemed that Mrs Mortlock had come back from her toilet break, seen that her grandson was absent and decided to do some investigating. However, the inclusion of two illegal people in the flight deck seemed to be playing on Douglas’s nerves, as much as he loved illegal things.  
“Mrs…Mrs, I really must ask you both to leave the flight deck.” Mrs Mortlock pointed a withered finger accusingly at Martin, who had let go of William’s arm as if it had burned him.  
“But he is manhandling my grandson! Just like that lump of a steward manhandled my poor dog!” At this insult, Arthur hung his head. Martin felt this was all very unfair.  
“He was trying to press a button! He could have killed us all!”   
Mrs Mortlock snorted.  
“Rubbish! He was only joking. I’m going to go back into the plane and when we get back to Fitton I assure you we will have more to say about this funny business. “   
She marched out of the flight deck with William clutched protectively in her arms. He shot another nasty look at Arthur before he was gone from view. When they were finally gone, Douglas and Martin turned to Arthur. Martin said softly,  
“Oh Arthur, that could have been so easily avoided if you hadn’t let him come in.”   
To their surprise, Arthur didn’t say anything. Douglas decided it was time to be delicate.  
“Arthur, we’re not angry with you, just a bit confused-”   
“I think,” Arthur said in a somewhat wobbly voice.   
“I’ll just go back into the galley before I do anything more rubbish and ruin everyones’ day.”   
And with that he was gone. Douglas turned to Martin in disbelief.  
“What was that about?”  
Martin could only shrug, and they both turned to concentrate on actually flying the plane.

***  
“Ooh, I’ve got one!”   
The flight deck had become rather quiet after the departure of Arthur with Douglas and Martin feeling reluctant to comment on what had happened, or more importantly, who should go and find Arthur.  
“What?”  
“I’ve thought of a game!”  
Usually, Martin would put up a tiny bit of a fight before succumbing to one of Douglas’s silly word games, but today he clung to the distraction eagerly.  
“Go on then, what is it this time?”  
“Famous people who have the same last name, but who are completely unrelated.”   
Silly though the games often were, it seemed to be a prerequisite, Martin had to hand it to Douglas that he was fairly imaginative.  
“Right, ok. Got any?” Bastard, he definitely did.  
“Martin Freeman…And Morgan Freeman!”   
Martin had to laugh.  
“Ah, Ok! Err-“  
“Michael Jackson and Peter Jackson!”   
Damn Douglas! He always had ones pre-prepared. Martin wracked his brain furiously.  
“Err, James Brown and Charlie Brown?”  
“Martin, Charlie Brown isn’t a real…fine, you can have it!”

Surprisingly, it turned out to be quite a bountiful game, even though of course Douglas was better at it. But Martin was used to that and just decided to enjoy the challenge anyway. After many furiously duelled minutes, Douglas excused himself to go to the toilet, although as Martin could see him clutching his mobile he was fairly sure that he was using this as an excuse to ring up one of his dodgy friends and secure a deal with his hoarded cacti. Douglas left the flight deck, bypassing Carolyn who seemed to have woken up. She stood at the doorway, arms crossed and eyeing Martin suspiciously.  
“What have I done now?”  
“Martin, why has Arthur been sniffling in the Galley for the last ten minutes? Mrs Mortlock rang her service bell so many bloody times it could have woken up all the hounds of hell!”  
Oh God, Arthur! The word game had completely driven the sad steward away from his mind. Somewhat guiltily, Martin thought Arthur might have cheered up; usually after any upsets he bounced back happily like a multi-coloured slinky toy. But apparently not, this time. Martin had to gulp back hot shame.   
“Oh, we had a bit of a mishap with Mrs Mortlock’s grandson-“  
Carolyn cut in sharply.  
“Martin, I really don’t care what happened. Just make sure that my son is cheered up. I simply cannot handle such difficulty customers and a sad Arthur.”  
“But I can’t leave the flight deck without Douglas and he’s probably going to be a while.”  
“I’m sure you will think of something.”  
And with that, she exited the flight deck. Great. Now it was up to Martin to cheer Arthur up. He felt that he didn’t have sufficient supplies to make Arthur happy, such as balloon animals or freshly baked cake; he would have to use what he had. He supposed that, as he couldn’t leave the flight deck, he would have to summon Arthur using the intercom. He would probably make a fool of himself, but didn’t he always? He just hoped that Arthur wouldn’t ignore him.

“Arthur Shappey requested on the flight deck, Arthur Shappey the Steward requested please.”   
He waited for a few moments, but no sign of Arthur’s arrival was forthcoming. He threw professionalism to the wind.  
“Arthur Shappey, Supreme Steward of this Vessel, the Captain requires your valued assistance in the flight deck.”  
There. That should do it; Arthur wouldn’t be able to resist such mighty summons. And, sure enough, the door hesitantly opened and Arthur stepped in. Although Martin could still see that his face was damp with tears, his intercom message seemed to have put a small smile on his lips.  
“Aww, Skip, you’ve never requested me before! Am I really the Supreme Steward?”  
Arthur’s face shone so much at this change in title that Martin laughed.  
“Of course you are, Arthur. You’ve done enough service to earn the title. You’ll have to get yourself a badge.”  
Ah, he wished it was so easy to cheer himself up. He could practically hear Arthur’s brain whirring with potential badge designs. Then, as if in protest, they both heard the service bell ring its plaintive beep of complaint. Reminded of their rude passengers, Arthur’s face immediately dropped. Martin tried to intervene quickly.  
“It’s ok, Arthur, let Carolyn deal with it for now. I just wanted to know why you were so sad? You know not to take passengers’ words to heart, and Douglas and I really aren’t annoyed with you about what happened earlier.” Arthur wrung his hands nervously, as if trying to pick his words carefully. He looked up at Martin and said in a sad, small voice,  
“Martin, am I…fat?”  
Ice seemed to flood Martin’s insides, and he felt cold fury rise within him.   
“Fat? Oh, Arthur, of course not! How, who?” But he knew exactly who.  
“I wouldn’t have got so upset, but William said it first and then Mrs Mortlock and I thought…I thought-“  
But Martin couldn’t stand Arthur blaming himself any longer.  
“Arthur, you are just fine. Mrs Mortlock and her grandson are just two horrible people who have nothing better to do than make other people feel miserable!” He noticed that Arthur was still wringing his hands, and he spotted the small but nevertheless nasty looking dog bite on his hand.  
“Look, your poor hand! Arthur, you need to get that sorted out!”  
Arthur looked down at his hand as if seeing the wound for the first time.  
“Oh, that’s fine! I know what to do.”  
And to Martin’s utter confusion, he brought his hand to his face and kissed it. At Martins befuddled expression, he simply said,   
“Well, you know what they say- you have to kiss it better.”  
“Err, I don’t think it’s supposed to work if you do it yourself.”  
Immediately, Martin regretted saying this. Arthur’s face turned distressed and he looked at his hand in complete horror.  
“Oh no, have I made it worse? What have I done?”  
“Arthur, I was only joking-“Martin began weakly but was immediately overridden.  
“Skip, oh no, what if I’ve made it worse?”  
Arthur seemed to be ignoring Martin’s protestations, so he reached over and did the only thing he could think of doing to calm Arthur down. He grabbed Arthur’s hand and placed a tender kiss on the bite. Arthur stopped babbling at once; they both looked at each other as if they couldn’t quite believe what had happened. Then, the utter ridiculousness of the situation sunk in and they both collapsed into a helpless fit of giggles. Although Martin felt slightly embarrassed by his actions, he was just glad that Arthur was happy again.  
“Thanks, Skip! I think my hand will be much, much better now!”   
Still laughing, Martin warned,  
“All the same, I think you should go and find the first aid kit and put a plaster on it before you forget.” Smiling, Arthur left the flight deck and Martin brought his attention back to the obviously important task of flying the plane. Because of this, he missed Arthur bringing his kissed hand to his face, a look of bemused contentment on his face.

A short while after Arthur had left, Douglas returned to the small room with a smug smile that hinted at a well-made bargain.   
“I passed Arthur on the way here, he looked rather happier than when we last saw him.”   
Martin was pleased to hear that Arthur had not succumbed to his earlier sadness. He told Douglas about what Mrs Mortlock and William had said to Arthur, and the more Douglas listened, the angrier he seemed to become. Sometimes, it was funny how much Douglas, despite affecting a cool and sly air, resembled a mother hen. When Martin had finished, Douglas gave him a mischievous looks.   
“So then Captain. What are we going to do about it?”   
And, for once, without complaint, Martin let himself be drawn into one of Douglas’s nefarious schemes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Douglas introduces Martin to a Noble and Ancient game.

For Douglas’s plan to work, it required a certain amount of luck which was certainly tricky considering Martin was involved, but Douglas’s natural good luck seemed to override this. They were inspired by a scratching and barking at the door, which they took to be Arnold, the irritating pug belonging to Mrs Mortlock. When they were working out the plan and Douglas heard this noise, he gave Martin a truly devilish grin.  
“Ah, Martin, I do believe it’s time to play...’The Travelling Pug’.”   
Martin gasped, he knew Douglas wasn’t a cruel man, but was this taking it a step too far? But Douglas assured him, as he opened the door and swiped the unsuspecting dog, that he wouldn’t harm a hair on its manicured head. He was just going to hide it somewhere. Only Douglas could hide a live dog in a small corridor with the people in said corridor not noticing, so Martin let him be in charge of doing the actual hiding. A few seconds later, Doulas returned with a triumphant look and stated.  
“The pug is in play.”  
***  
Although Carolyn hated anything to do with being an old lady, i.e. walking sticks, frumpy clothes, smelly cats, sometimes she had to admit that having a little sleep did wonders for her head. Sometimes, she wasn’t even sleeping, she spent the time worrying and calculating about her doomed airdot. Despite this, she found it rather soothing to be up in the air and ignoring the responsibilities that lay waiting for her on the ground. Therefore, she was not pleased at all when her light nap was disrupted by a loud screech from a certain passenger.   
“Arnold! Arnold, baby, where are you?”   
Carolyn tried her best to ignore this, she had after all mastered looking after Arthur as a child and one needed the patience of a saint for that. But when the screams almost became supersonic, she reluctantly dragged her protesting body upright.  
“Mrs Mortlock, what is the problem?”  
“My dog! My dog is missing! He must have fallen out of the airlock, my baby!”   
Curse the stupidity of the rest of humanity. Carolyn tried to put on her most delicate voice.  
“Madame, it is impossible for your dog to fall out of a sealed aeroplane. He has probably wandered off somewhere.”   
“But all the doors are closed! He could only be in here!”   
The mad lady did have a point, thought Carolyn. She begrudgingly saw it as her duty to retrieve the wretched dog, and started searching the various chairs inside G-ERTI. When she was sure she had searched the whole vicinity, she started to get a suspicious feeling that foul play was involved. Then, when William was searching inside the toilet and Mrs Mortlock had to pause her wretched ranting to draw a breath, they heard a small scratching noise from above. Carolyn stood on her tiptoes and retrieved the confused, but not unhappy pug from the overhead storage space.  
“He must have…gotten in somehow…” But this sounded weak even to Carolyn’s ears. Mrs Mortlock couldn’t speak, so apoplectic with rage was she. She leapt towards the flight lock door and banged with both fists.  
“How dare you mistreat my dog like-!” The door opened and Douglas stood there with his most smooth Sky God voice.  
“Madame, I and our veritable captain have been busy flying the plane and we would appreciate it if you would leave us to this important and noble job in peace.” Red faced, the old lady turned to go back to her seat. She resolved to keep a closer eye on her dog, who was currently engaged in a tug of war with William’s napkin. Carolyn excused herself and made her way to the flight deck.

***  
Douglas heard the ominous footsteps first and urged Martin to affect an expression of innocence. Carolyn knocked the door open and entered the room like an angry tigress who had seen her cubs acting incredibly stupidly.  
“What the hell are you two playing at?”  
“Us, Carolyn? Why, we have been merely flying the plane-“  
“Douglas, stop. And you too, Martin. Don’t look all gooey eyed at me, I know you had a hand in this too. “ She held up a hand to stem Douglas and Martin’s imminent protests.  
“Douglas, Martin, I have had enough. I need this to stop. “ She gave them one last withering look and left the flight deck. Martin stared after her guiltily.  
“Maybe she’s right, maybe we should stop.” But Douglas looked all the more determined.  
“No, I don’t think we should. Those passengers have been awful and we owe it to Carolyn to make them pay.” No one could put a stop to Douglas when he was determined, but Martin decided, even though it made him immediately feel sweaty, that he should be the one to hide the dog. Douglas eyed him warily.  
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”  
“You’ve already done it once; if Carolyn catches us again at least we can share the blame.” Douglas was touched at Martin’s fairness. He opened the door for Martin.  
“Good luck!”

***

The dog was once more at the flight deck door, seeming to have learnt nothing. Mrs Mortlock was distracted by her grandson, who was moaning whilst Arthur was attempting to serve him dinner.  
“It’s not hot enough! Eugh, I HATE it! “   
“You are not serving him correctly!”  
Martin swiped the dog and silently carried it towards the galley. Luckily, Carolyn was distracted by trying to make sure William didn’t throw his food at Arthur like he was threatening and he put the happy pug into a cupboard, sneaking him a bit of dried beef from the waiting frozen meals. On his way back to the flight deck, Arthur caught his eye in desperation and Martin tried to give him an encouraging sort of smile, but it came out as a grimace. He shut the door and waited.   
After about ten minutes, all hell broke loose.   
They heard a very loud,  
“HE HAS GONE AGAIN, HE IS DEAD!”   
“Mrs Mortlock, really! I am sure he is just hiding!”   
Even though Arthur had been stood next to the batty old lady the whole time, she turned on him.  
“Where is my dog?” Martin heard this, and his heart filled with dread. Arthur had seen him, and couldn’t lie, not under pressure. He heard his voice wobble.  
“Maybe Skip knows…I just saw him, I’ll go and get him.”  
“You saw the Captain? When?” But Arthur had scurried off to Martin and Douglas.  
He opened the door and moaned “I’m sorry, I'm sorry!” But Martin shook his head and prepared to face the music. Douglas merely sighed at the spoilt revenge.   
The madness in the main part of the plane was intensified by the fact that William had gone rootling in the galley for the dog and had tripped over the paper cups scattered on the floor. The dog burst out of the cupboard and jumped onto Mrs Mortlock’s lap, staining her blouse with bits of dribbly, slowly defrosting beef. She screamed. Then, she pointed an accusatory finger at none other than Arthur.  
“You did this! I don’t know how but you did!” Carolyn rolled her eyes.  
“Mrs Mortlock, Arthur has been here the whole time and believe me, he does not have the brains to pull an extraordinary in flight dog heist.” Martin didn’t want Arthur to get into any more trouble, so, taking a deep breath, he walked towards the hysterical woman.  
“Madame, Arthur did not hide your dog. I did.” Carolyn and Douglas, who had come in for the hell of it, gaped at Martin.  
“You did what?”  
“A dog on an aeroplane is a safety hazard, so I took it upon myself to resolve this. Perhaps not in the most orthodox way, but-”   
“I cannot believe this, the nerve! First I was insulted by this idiot boy-” Martin raised his voice.  
“And you will not insult my crew any longer, I forbid it.”   
At this, Mrs Mortlock scanned Martin carefully, and it was obvious that she was searching for things to wound him with. She moved closer to him so that they were practically face to face, her wrinkled old mug twisted into a malicious grin.  
“You have no authority over me, you ugly excuse for a pilot. I bet you think you are so important, but you just look like a cheap joke to me. You know what?” She jerked her head towards Douglas.  
“I think he is the real captain, no matter who wears the hat. I bet you would pay him not to be so much better, but I can tell from your haircut and your clothes that that is just not a possibility, is it? And I bet you love having idiots like that boy there because at least you can laugh at how he is even more worthless than you.”

Each word stung. Each word brought everything that lurked in the corner of Martin’s mind closer and closer to the fore. This horrible old woman seemed to have the uncanny ability to pick on the insecurities of others, and for Martin she had certainly hit her mark. He didn’t have much fight left in him; all he could manage was a desperate,  
“Get away from me, you insufferable old hag. At least I don’t have a nasty grandson who picks on helpless people or a wasted old life.”   
Mrs Mortlock’s face changed into a shocked blankness. Then, before anyone could stop her, she drew back her hand and slapped Martin smartly across the face. Martin stumbled backwards, his mouth made a little ‘o’, and he ran back into the flight deck. William looked at his grandmother in shock, and even she looked a little abashed at what she had done. The flight didn’t have long left to go, and everyone settled into an awkward silence. When Douglas re-entered the flight deck, Martin would not speak and would not move his eyes from the front window, not even when Douglas patted him on the back. For the remaining minutes of the flight, Martin had the woman’s words flashing through his mind, and his cheek stung smartly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Had a bit of a mistake with this chapter- when I first wrote it they had landed back in Fitton.....from Fitton d'oh! I've screwed my head back on properly now XD

When G-ERTI finally landed at the airfield in Barcelona, Mrs Mortlock and her grandson hurried off as quickly as was humanly possible, Mrs Mortlock gripping the yapping dog as if he was going to disappear. When they were safely out of sight, Carolyn dropped her fake smile and turned to Douglas and Martin. Before she could say anything, Douglas thought he would try and save the situation.  
“It was my fault, Carolyn, don’t be too harsh on Martin.” Carolyn ground her teeth in annoyance.  
“Douglas, Martin should have stopped the game. He should have taken control. I want to speak to you inside G-ERTI, please Martin.” Arthur hovered uncertainly.  
“Go and get a taxi ready.”  
“Actually, Mum, I thought I’d stay and hoover-“  
“Code red.” Carolyn’s voice worked on Arthur the way only an angry mother’s could, and with an apologetic look at Martin, he practically ran to the airport. Feeling the intense heat of the airfield, Martin began the ominous trudge up the stairs, wondering how his day could get any worse. Douglas feebly waved, then followed Arthur.  
When secured inside the plane, Carolyn turned to Martin. He couldn’t work out whether she looked angrier or more disappointed. She pinched the bridge of her nose and shut her eyes.  
“Martin? Do you want this business to fail?”  
Martin was shocked by this unfair and sudden question.  
“O-of course not!”   
“Well what the HELL were you playing at? That woman was horrible, yes, but when she gets back to her home she is probably going to go and tell all of her friends or anyone who will listen never to fly with MJN again. Hell, she might even go on a forum! I know this damn company has a bad enough reputation as it is, but this is just unacceptable.” Martin hated this, the guilt trip. But then again, he supposed Carolyn did have a point.  
“Carolyn, I am sorry if this has caused problems for MJN, but that woman, did you know what she said to Arthur?” Thrown for the moment, Carolyn shook her head.  
“She called him fat, Carolyn, and I don’t know why but it made him really upset. I’m sorry if I tried to teach her a lesson.”   
Carolyn looked torn between exasperation and annoyance. She really did hate telling off Martin when she knew he had been heavily influenced by Douglas, but if Martin couldn’t try and stop him then these mistakes would just keep happening. She knew she had been rather grouchy lately, but she had been receiving an uncomfortable amount of official letters, all of them money related and all of them made her feel sick.  
“Oh Martin, I wouldn’t have a go at you so much but I’m going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment and if things like this keep happening and I lose custom then there won’t be an MJN anymore to be worried about.”   
Wow, Carolyn must be really stressed to reveal this to him, thought Martin. Usually she kept her burdens close to her chest, so much so that he often let silliness cloud his better judgement.   
“How, how soon?” Carolyn bit her lip, her mind filled with letters stamped with the dreaded red stamp of ‘important’.  
“Please do not tell anyone else, not least because I don’t want them to feel sorry for me, but if business doesn’t pick up, well, months really. “ Martin closed his eyes; months. He knew his chances of getting a new piloting job was slim, but to only have a potential few months of his dream job left? The blackness loomed. His cheek stung. He suddenly felt very, very tired.   
“I need to go now.” The uncharacteristic hopeless look was still clear on Carolyn’s face, and she looked at Martin still with a faint disappointment. She nodded, and let him catch up with Douglas and Arthur. Douglas seemed to be attempting to teach Arthur some Spanish, and the difficulty of this meant that it didn’t matter if Martin didn’t speak much. Soon enough, Carolyn returned to the rest of the crew and they waited to board a taxi. It surprised no one that Carolyn had only booked three hotel rooms at the cheapest place she could find, so Douglas asked Martin if he wanted to draw straws. Staring out of the window, Martin just muttered.  
“I don’t care.” Feeling awkward, Douglas drew the straws anyway and fate dictated that Martin was to share with Arthur. He just shrugged. Trying to ignore the stony faced Captain, Douglas resumed his somewhat futile attempts at teaching Arthur Spanish. It was not that Arthur wasn’t an enthusiastic student; he just tended to forget what he was supposed to say.  
“Hello! I mean, hola! Err…soy Arthur Shappey, hah soy like soy sauce! Oops, that’s not Spanish!”   
And so on for the rest of the journey. When they finally got to the dingy hotel, Carolyn handed Martin the keys, experience had taught her not to even consider giving Arthur that task, and they retired to their rooms to freshen up before dinner. This was another reason why Martin was feeling so down; he wasn’t sure he had enough money for food and he hated it when the others forked out for him, even though he knew they understood his situation and never asked for anything back. Luckily, Carolyn had the foresight to book a room with twin beds although they were very close together, and Martin lay on one staring at the ceiling as Arthur got changed out of his steward’s uniform. Martin usually just threw off his pilot jacket and kept on his white shirt and blue trousers, it saved on washing and he always remembered with bitterness the time his suitcase got lost and he had to buy a whole new set of clothes. He knew it was a bit lazy, but beggars could not be choosers and it was only a short trip anyway because thankfully they did not have to bring Mrs Mortlock and her grandson back to Fitton the next day. Alternatively, it was always a bit of a shock to see Arthur not in his steward uniform. The cheery red shirt and black waistcoat seemed to embody him so much that it was odd to see him in regular clothes. But Arthur always tried to imbue a bit of fun into what he wore, and today he did not disappoint as he was wearing a vibrant orange shirt with a smiling sun in the middle. This did actually make Martin smile; he remembered the time that Carolyn admitted she had given up taking Arthur clothes shopping because she could no longer be bothered trying to stop him from buying ridiculous things. Martin was just impressed at the things he sometimes managed to find- only Arthur, after the fiasco at Ottery St Mary could manage to find gloves in the shape of otter heads. He gave them to Martin though, which surprised him somewhat as they were a very Arthur sort of thing. That was a very nice Christmas present though , and Martin had appreciated the silly gloves; they were very warm. Martin watched as Arthur put his shoes back on and hovered next to his bed.  
“Skip? I think it’s time for dinner now.” Martin sighed.  
“I-I don’t think I’ll be going Arthur. I don’t think I have enough, well you know.” Arthur smiled sadly.  
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want. But I got Mum to book this hotel especially because they have meal bargains on Thursdays! I know it’s a bit of an odd day to have a bargain on but we could share the meal and it would cost less for both of us! “  
Martin thought of Arthur googling cheap meals for him, and although it did make him feel slightly embarrassed, he was touched by the effort he had put in. he couldn’t refuse now, and he suddenly found that he didn’t want to anyway. He sat up and threw off his jacket.  
“Lead the way then, o mighty googler!” Arthur grinned, and they made their way to the restaurant.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, a slightly drunk!Martin and churros...heaven...

The meal was delicious. They laughed away the tension of their day over cheap wine and cheaper food (Douglas and Arthur on coca cola), but it was nonetheless tasty. Even Carolyn cracked a smile as Douglas recounted hilarious tales of visiting Spain with Air England, some of which included a dodgy deal with some second hand maracas and pushing various cabin crew into the sea, and most typically involving Douglas using his limitless wit to get them out of sticky situations. Martin felt immensely cheered up and he and Arthur shared a lovely seafood paella, although Arthur picked out any prawns that he found.

“Aww, you can see their faces, Skip! I can’t eat something if I can see its little face!”   
This made them all chuckle merrily and Martin wondered if Arthur even liked seafood, or he had just agreed to what Martin had suggested that they order. Either way, Arthur looked happy, so he didn’t feel too bad. He was also glad to see that Arthur had put a large plaster on his hand, which was unusual because Arthur usually forgot to do the things people asked him to do, especially if it concerned his own welfare. As the deserts were cheap as well, Carolyn allowed them to buy some; usually deserts were a luxury on trips and Arthur received this permission with gusto. Although Martin insisted he was fine and they needn’t bother, Douglas chipped in with Arthur and they bought churros and hot chocolate for them all to share. The reason they chose this was because Arthur when perusing the menu had asked Douglas what churros was, liking the way it sounded.

“It is like a kind of donut thing, but you dip it in a really thick hot chocolate; it is simply divine.”   
So of course, they had to have it. It really was good, Martin thought as they all took turns in dipping the fried treat into the hot chocolate provided, and he and Douglas laughed once more as Carolyn tutted at Arthur’s inevitably chocolate stained face.  
“Oh lord, I have raised a chimp!” At this, Arthur did an admittedly good chimp impression, prompting Douglas to knit his brows together and rumble his best Tarzan influenced,  
“Gor-i-lla?” Martin simply could not suppress his alcohol induced giggles, and at the racket they were making Carolyn told them it was probably time to go to bed, though she did say this with a smile. Arthur put his hand on Martin’s arm and steadied him as they made their goodnights and went slowly to the hotel room. When they had got back in, Arthur guided Martin to the bed, then went to sit on his own right next to Martin’s. Arthur began to get ready for bed; Martin merely stared at the ceiling humming a jolly little tune. When Arthur got back from the bathroom after carefully brushing his teeth, he saw noticed that Martin was still humming serenely.  
“Skip? You might want to start getting ready for bed now. It’s getting pretty late and we need to be ready to fly tomorrow! “ Martin just carried on humming.  
“Do you have any pyjamas?” Martin shook his head, grinning his slightly intoxicated grin. Arthur felt slightly concerned at this- he felt that everyone should have proper pyjamas! He mourned the fact that he had only brought a small amount of clothes, then he remembered his orange shirt that he’d folded neatly in his bag, just as his Mum had taught him.  
“That’s ok, you can borrow this!” he retrieved the shirt and threw it to a slightly confused Martin.   
“Err, thanks Arthur!” Martin began unbuttoning his shirt, and Arthur realised he was still watching him. He looked quickly away from Martin’s bare chest, but Martin hadn’t noticed. Face burning slightly, Arthur started wringing his hands again, but stopped as he accidentally pressed on his injured hand. His kissed hand. His face went even redder. To stop himself from babbling and admitting embarrassing things Arthur blurted out,  
“Thanks for sticking up for me before, skip. I know it got you in a lot of trouble.” Martin had got the shirt on and was in the process of undoing his trousers. He turned to Arthur.  
“Don’t worry about it, Arthur. That woman was the real idiot. I don’t regret it more than, oh, my whole miserable excuse for a life.” Martin’s voice had turned bitter, and Arthur felt a little bad.  
“Oh, it’s, it’s not so bad is it?” Martin snorted with derision.  
“Hah! Not bad? No, it’s not bad at all having to almost break my back doing delivery jobs which I get paid a pittance for and then getting shouted and made to feel worthless at the only job I’ve ever cared about. “ Martin had successfully gotten the trousers off and had shuffled onto his stomach on the bed and was leaning over the side in order to deliver this comment to Arthur. Arthur just felt sad at Martin’s outburst.   
“Oh, I wish there was something I could do!” Even in his slightly drunken state, Martin felt a bit bad at being mean to Arthur.  
“No, no, Arthur! You need to stop blaming yourself! You’re too good, you’re too- unf!” Martin had tried pointing at Arthur, but somehow this had caused him to lose his precarious perch on the bed, and he planted face first onto the floor. Arthur rushed over and hauled the red faced Skip up and before he got the chance to deposit him on the bed, Martin drew him into a sort of hug and whispered.  
“Don’t ever change.” 

Oh, this was nice. Arthur rarely got hugs, even though people regarded him as a very huggable person. Truth be told, he had spent most of his childhood wishing for a friend he could hug because although his Mum was obviously The Best Mum in the World, she didn’t hug much. And Gordon would rather have given Arthur a lecture than fatherly affection. So he let himself be drawn into the hug, and only ended it reluctantly because he knew that Martin would probably wake up in the morning and feel embarrassed about it. He placed the smaller man on the bed.  
“Goodnight, Skip!”  
“Mhm? Goodnight, Arthur.” And with that, they both settled down to sleep, although Arthur’s head was racing, filled with and encompassed by Martin.


	7. Chapter 7

Martin woke up in the morning with a very bleary head. It took a moment before he sat up and looked down at himself, startled at the bright orange shirt he appeared to be wearing. Where on earth had that come from? He searched his brain frantically, and it alighted on the hug; Martin cringed with embarrassment. Poor Arthur, it must have been awful dealing with a drunken Martin as he tended to just be depressing and say what he thought. He hoped he hadn’t been too bad. He moved to take the shirt off, but it was rather comfortable, a kind of silky material that he probably couldn’t afford. Not that Arthur wore luxury items, just that Martin’s wardrobe consisted of threadbare things that he had worn for years. That was another reason why he usually just wore his uniform; it was literally the nicest outfit he owned. Shaking off this depressing thought, Martin moved once again to taking the shirt off. But it smelt so nice, just like Arthur, so sweet and- 

Wait, smelt like Arthur? Since when did he start cataloguing people’s smells?  
It was starting to turn into an odd sort of trip. Martin began to wonder if he was going mad. He was just about to rise from the bed when the hotel door opened and Arthur came in holding a plate with some toast balanced on it. He smiled when he saw that Martin was awake.

“Oh, hi Skip! We’ve not got long til we have to leave so I brought you some breakfast so we can save time!” Ah breakfast, what a luxury. Arthur moved to sit on the end of the bed and Martin reached over to take a piece of the bread.  
“Thanks, but why didn’t you wake me up before?”   
Arthur had considered waking Martin up, but he had looked so comfortable and sleepy that he just couldn’t bear to do so.   
“I just thought you might want a bit more sleep! It was pretty late last night.”   
That was kind of him, thought Martin. He looked at his wristwatch which he had forgotten to take off and saw that he had about fifteen minutes until they had to leave. He finished his last piece of toast; it was nice of Arthur to put his favourite cherry jam on it.  
“Too true. Right, I think I’m just going to pop in the shower.”   
Martin made to stand up, then immediately felt very embarrassed as he remembered that he was just wearing the shirt and underpants. He wasn’t quite sure why he felt so embarrassed; he and Arthur had shared so many hotel rooms over the years that seeing each other in various states of undress wasn’t unusual. And anyway, the shirt was a bit long for him so it wasn’t even too revealing. But he still felt rather silly. Arthur wasn’t faring much better, he decided he quite liked Skip in his shirt, weird though the thought was. Martin coughed awkwardly.  
“Thank you for lending me your shirt, I’ll give it back after my shower.”   
Arthur didn’t know why he blurted it out, it just happened.  
“You can have it if you want. It looks lovely with your hair.”   
Martin’s face was soon a match for both the shirt and his hair; he went very red and felt a bit flustered.  
“Oh, you don’t have to give it to me, I mean it’s very nice and all-“  
“No, please! I hardly ever get to give presents! It can be a kind of ‘thank you Skip for saving me from an evil woman’ sort of present!”   
Martin smiled, then gave a curt nod and escaped into the bathroom, locking the door quickly. He took the shirt off with a strange feeling of sadness, folded it and placed it carefully on the floor. Meanwhile, Arthur lay on the bed, feeling very, very foolish. He was starting to have very strange feelings about Martin; he kept feeling that he just wanted to help him and help him, and that never lead to anything good. But Arthur Shappey was not one to let unhappy thoughts dwell in his mind, and he contented himself with smiling at a mental picture of Martin’s lovely red hair and the orange shirt. 

Ah. What a lovely shower. Although the hotel was cheap, the shower was still nice which was a blessing. He stepped out of the shower and bent down to retrieve his clothes.  
His clothes. Damn.  
Of course he had forgotten to bring them into the bathroom! Well, there was nothing for it. He opened the bathroom door so there was just a crack and called out,  
“Arthur?”  
“Oh, yes Skip?”   
“I, err, I forgot my uniform. It’s just at the bottom of my bed, I’m so sorry, could you…?”   
“Of course!”   
Arthur darted to the bottom of the bed and retrieved the somewhat crumpled uniform. He went to the bathroom door and hovered outside. Martin had to open the door to get the clothes off of him, and for a few seconds Arthur was treated to the image of a bashful Martin wearing nothing but a towel.  
“Here you go Skip!” Arthur’s voice was overly bright, and the clothes were exchanged quickly. The door shut and Arthur stood outside, unwilling or just unable to move. When Martin popped out only minutes later, vibrant red hair wet and cheeks aglow, Arthur had managed to shuffle away from the bathroom and pick up his bag. Martin had Arthur’s shirt in his hands and placed it in his travel bag.  
“I’m, I’m ready to go now!” Arthur could only nod, and they left the room. 

***  
The flight home was an unusually smooth and pleasant one. As their previous passengers had thankfully elected to go home via a different airline even before the fandango of the previous day, they only had a small delivery job that Carolyn had somehow managed to wangle for this trip. Martin and Douglas resumed the game they had played the day before; Martin managed to score quite a bit with answers such as “Robbie Williams and Robin Williams” And Douglas even let him have double points for “Anne Hathaway, actress” and “Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife”, even though Martin had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t have usually. In fact, Douglas was being quite cordial on this flight, possibly feeling a little bad about the events of yesterday. Martin did still feel upset, but the events of last night and the morning had somewhat muted the events of that disastrous trip. Douglas seemed to pick up on this.  
“Sir seems much happier today! See any nice señoritas that caught your eye?”  
“Ha-ha, no, just glad to be going home, I suppose.” Douglas’s voice perked up.  
“I know what will cheer you up! Why don’t you try and go on a date with someone when we get back? I’m sure I know someone.” Oh, Martin really didn’t like the sound of that. Douglas carried on regardless.   
“I’m sure even Arthur knows a willing lady, in fact I might ask. “ Oh God, it had finally gotten to the point in their friendship where Martin couldn’t put it off any longer. He had wanted to tell Douglas for such a long time, but some excuse had always stopped him.   
“There would be no point.” Douglas looked at him sadly.  
“Oh Martin, there’s no need to put yourself down so much!”  
“No, I mean,” Martin cleared his throat.  
“There would be no point… asking a lady.”  
The statement hung in the air for a few moments, and Martin prepared himself for the worst. He hoped Douglas wouldn’t react like his father; he could still remember the shouting and the pain that had caused. He hoped he wouldn’t be a disappointment to another person.  
“Oh ok, well I'm sure Arthur must know some guys then.” Was that it? No sighing, no disappointment?  
“You, you aren’t mad? Or disgusted?”  
“Why on earth would I be mad? It’s certainly not my place to dictate who you might fall in love with. Whoever told you it’s disgusting deserves to be thrown out of G-ERTI.” He said this with such vehemence that Martin felt very touched.  
“It was my dad, actually. Caused a bit of a problem to be honest. Well, a big problem actually.” Douglas looked at him in sadness. It seemed the longer he got to know Martin the more miserable his life seemed to have been, and he began to understand why he had been such a prissy rule lover when he first joined MJN. He spoke in a warm voice.  
“Martin, he should have been proud of you. I would have been, if I had a son that was so hard working.” Martin whispered a small,  
“Thank you, that means so much.” And it did. Even though he was loathe to admit it, he did rather look up to Douglas and it was nice to know that behind the banter and playful teasing lay a man who was ready to respect him.   
“I’ll let it go for now, but I’m sure you will find someone one day, Martin.”   
How Martin hoped that would be true. But he knew that a broke pilot who lived in a tiny room with no outside hobbies to flying wasn’t much of a catch. They spent the rest of the flight talking about light subjects and Carolyn only shouted once when Douglas told Arthur that if he jumped at the right moment gravity would stop and he would float just like in a space ship.  
“Arthur! Stop acting like a demented rabbit and please just sit down!"

All in all, it had been a rather nice flight and the sun was shining merrily in Fitton once they landed. Carolyn gave Martin a life home which he was grateful for and just before he left the car Arthur caught his eye and shouted, much to Carolyn’s perplexity.  
“See you soon, Skip! Enjoy the shirt!”   
Martin smiled widely and let himself into the student house. His smile disappeared rapidly when he looked down at the doormat and saw a couple of letters waiting for him, one that was stamped with an ominous red stamp that said ‘important’. His stomach feeling heavy with foreboding, Martin muttered a quick hello to some students he saw on his way upstairs. One of them, Martin thought she was called Penelope, called out.  
“Oh, Martin? Tony called yesterday- he was looking for you.” 

That wasn’t good news. Tony was their landlord, and he and Martin weren’t exactly on perfect terms. Martin had once used his van to move his furniture when Tony moved house at very short notice (on the day after Tony’s first option went back on him for some reason) and it was a very stressful job, so Tony owed him. But after all these years of Martin barely getting his rent on time, Tony’s patience was wearing thin as he felt the debt had been repaid by now. Martin almost agreed, but if he couldn’t live in the attic he only had the streets or his van left to him. He finally got to his room and sat on his bed in trepidation. 

He summoned up his courage and opened the envelope, taking the letter out and scanning it furiously. He felt colder and colder as he read that his rent was increasing and a warning that he was late on this month’s rent as well. He closed his eyes and let his body fall back onto the bed. How could he spend more money on rent? He already spent the bare minimum on food, if the bare minimum was battered vegetables and soup cans in the unwanted box at the supermarket and, if he was bloody lucky, a bottle of milk that was supposed to go off the next day. He basically lived on the food provided by MJN, and he didn’t fly every day, mainly because he was spending the rest of the time hauling boxes. He was hoping that he could cut down on his delivery jobs actually, but a reread of the letter indicated that this was just not going to be a possibility. Hell, he might even have to beg Carolyn to let him have a few days off. Little did he know, she was having a similar sort of situation. 

Carolyn stared at the many letters spread on her kitchen table and wondered if she could ask martin to do a few extra days. She was confident he would, and put the letters out of her mind when Arthur danced into the kitchen and asked if he could make her a drink. She felt so sorry for Arthur sometimes; he was the one who was going to have to deal with her failure of a company one day, and here he was merrily making tea even though he was at home and not at his job serving people. He seemed very bright, even for Arthur, and she wondered what had caused this.

Meanwhile, Martin sat on his bed, unable to move and cursing his failure of a life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, this story is becoming longer and longer! I wish I had a happy orange sunshine shirt :I


	8. Chapter 8

There wasn’t another flight scheduled for four days. Although Martin was sort of glad that this meant he could book some delivery jobs in, his stomach rumbled its disagreement. He scoured his cupboards even though he knew that one of the downsides of being poor was that he knew exactly how much food he had in there. He managed to find one tin of kidney beans, the last of the bread which hadn’t quite gone stale yet, a small amount of pasta and a slightly bruised but still fine apple. That was not the worst he’d had, he was sure he could split the pasta and kidney beans over two days. If worst came to worst, and it frequently did, he was sure he could go downstairs and beg something off the students, useless though that made him feel. He always repaid them, whether it was in driving them somewhere or food. Luckily, he had managed to get a couple of deliveries booked, so after his rent was paid he would attempt to go shopping with the leftover money. He tried to ring Tony.

“Hello? This is Tony Musgrave speaking?”  
“Hi Tony, it’s Martin Crieff here.”  
“Oh, hey Martin. I tried to contact you yesterday.”  
“Yeah, sorry about that, I was on a flight. Mate, I got the letter yesterday and-“  
“Oh good, so you know about the rent then.”  
“Yes, I was wondering about that actually. Um, it seems to have gone up. I’m not sure if I can afford it-“ He heard a heavy sigh.  
“Look, Martin. Do you know how expensive the water and electrical’s getting nowadays? I’ve got to move with the times and so do you.” Martin felt close to tears.  
“Tony, you’ve seen my room. I barely have anything. I’m not frittering my money on stupid things, I literally spend anything I get on my rent.”  
“I know, it doesn’t exactly please me to see you suffer Martin, but if you can’t pay, well…” He let the threat hang. Martin was the one to sigh this time, eyes closed.  
“I’ll do my best then.”  
“Cheers Martin. See you later.”   
The phone clicked and Martin was left in silence. He just hoped that his van wouldn’t give up on him, otherwise he would have been absolutely finished. 

***

The next day, Martin ate the bread because he knew it would be too far gone the day after. His back ached from the sofas he had been hauling, but because the client had a fussy cat they hadn’t told him about they gave him a five pound tip. Martin pocketed it gratefully, but knew it would be going straight into his rent pot.   
***

The day after this, Martin’s stomach felt very bad, but he ignored it and got on with his next job. He felt so lucky that he had topped up his petrol before the flight to Barcelona because he really didn’t have enough money to get any more, and it would definitely last him these few jobs. For this job he was helping a nice old lady who insisted on calling him Marvin and who pushed into his hand a very solid piece of fruitcake. Although Martin didn’t like fruitcake, he wolfed it down. It was nice to serve a lovely old lady, even though she did have a lot of fussy furniture. It took quite a while, but the longer the better because it meant he got more money. When he finally got back home, just before he collapsed on his bed, he put the money in the rent pot once more. He tried to clear his mind of all worries, but he always inevitably fell back into thinking of Mrs Mortlock’s words. He was useless and immensely tired. The only thing that kept him sane was the bright orange shirt that he rested on his pillow, making his pillow smell of Arthur. He kept noticing the smile of the printed sunshine, which was but a ghost of the one the happy steward usually bestowed on the world. But although this was comforting, it did confuse Martin all the more. He ate the pasta to try and stem the confusion, then cursed himself when he realised that only left him the apple and the kidney beans for the next day.

***  
On the third day, Martin knew he looked wild eyed and hopelessly tired. He could see it in his client’s face, so the job was blessedly swift. This wasn’t a good thing in the end, though, as it meant that Martin didn’t have anything else to do for the rest of the day. He cut the apple into quarters and ate one every quarter of an hour, although it started to go brown very quickly. He was not going to bet anything off the cheese tray tomorrow.   
***

Martin woke up feeling absolutely dreadful. He had been in fits of sleep since about five pm the previous day, waking up periodically to his dismally empty flat. In his state he forgot to ask Carolyn to pick him up and had to walk all the way to the airfield, his mood getting blacker and blacker the closer he got. He arrived late, as he knew he would, and when he arrived the rest of the crew stared at him agog. Douglas was the first to speak.  
“Martin, you look dreadful.”  
“Thank you Douglas, for that obviously well needed comment, I really appreciate it.”   
Martin snapped. Arthur widened his eyes in shock. What had happened to Skip? Martin turned to Carolyn.   
“Carolyn? Could I have a little chat aboard G-ERTI? Alone?”  
“Strange, I was going to ask the same thing…”   
Douglas and Arthur stayed at the base of the plane, exchanging glances; something wasn’t right. When Martin and Carolyn got onto the plane, Martin was quick to cut to the chase.  
“Carolyn, I need to ask for some time off.”  
“Well you can keep on asking, because I need to tell you that you are doing more flights.” Martin stared at Carolyn in utter disbelief.  
“Carolyn, I need this time off, please, I-“  
“Martin, I am not being greedy- I need you to work because we are fast losing money.”   
Curse his life! If Martin acted pushy he would be seen as being selfish.  
“Carolyn, please, they’ve pushed my rent up and I just can’t, I can’t!” Carolyn could see him begin to shake.  
“Martin, you need to calm down-“  
“No! I’m sick of it, everyone treating me like I’m their slave! Carolyn, I'm not being greedy, I’m actually begging here-“ Carolyn felt so cruel.   
“Martin I can’t!”  
“Well I won’t do it then.” 

The plane went deathly silent. Carolyn narrowed her eyes.  
“You won’t?” Martin’s eyes shone in defiance.  
“Martin, are you telling me to fire you? Are you actually telling me to go and find another Captain?”   
Arthur and Douglas, not being able to stand waiting outside, had entered G-ERTI quietly and were watching opened mouthed at the scene unfolding before them. Carolyn stood gripping one of the seats with white knuckles and the shorter but nonetheless fearsome looking Martin stood poised as if he was going to jump at someone. Then, as if someone had pricked him with a pin, Martin seemed to deflate, all his anger dissipating into a deep and utter despair. He said in a small voice,  
“No, of course not. It’s, it’s fine, I’ll do whatever days you want.” All of a sudden, looking at the miserable man before her, Carolyn couldn’t bear feeling like an evil witch.  
“Oh Martin, maybe I was being too hasty, I’m sure we can work something out-“  
“No, it’s fine. It’s not like I have anything else to live for anyway.”   
And so Martin went into the flight deck. Arthur went to follow, but Douglas gripped his shoulder.  
“No, leave him a bit of time to recover.” He turned to Carolyn urgently.  
“Carolyn, did you see him? He looks like he’s not eaten for days.”   
Carolyn had been blinded by her anger and worry and felt ashamed that she had aggravated Martin rather than helped him. She felt like a foolish old woman, but at least she could offer Martin some food. She told Arthur to prepare something, even though they needed to be taking off soon. Arthur’s face was creased with worry. There was something wrong with Skip, and he felt something akin to sickness when he recalled that sad, desperate face. Arthur had brought some lunch with him for the journey, some cake and some crisp sandwiches, but he felt that Martin needed it more than he did. They all gathered at the flight deck door and Arthur gently knocked. They heard a feeble,  
“Come in.”   
He opened the door to see tear-stained Martin perched miserably on the chair. When he saw the sandwiches in Arthur’s hands his eyes shone with such gratitude that it made his heart clench. He ate them ravenously and looked so embarrassed when he had finished.  
“Carolyn, I’m so sorry for being rude to you. It’s just, they’ve made my rent go up and I, I’ve not been able to afford any food.” The rest of the crew looked aghast at this. Arthur and Douglas shared a look that plainly said “we are going to go to the shops after this and buy him so much” and Martin interpreted this with no trouble.  
“Look, I know you want to help, but I hate feeling like a charity case. It will look up, somehow. It, it always does.” Douglas quirked and eyebrow at Arthur and he nodded; no way was Skip getting out of this one. Arthur handed him the cake. Martin stared at it sadly.  
“I can’t eat this.”   
“Yes you can. If I eat it instead of you, skip, it’ll just make me feel like an evil old king who watches while everyone else suffers. You’ll make me cry and if everyone cries too much G-ERTI will flood and wont we be in so much trouble! I want you to have it. And besides, it’s not charity; it’s cake!”   
Well, at least that made Martin laugh and he took a generous bite of the cake. Carolyn thought she had best say something.  
“Martin, I apologise. I will try and make sure I do not overwork you. I want you to promise me that you will let us know if you ever feel that overworked again.”  
Martin’s eyes shone, he didn’t deserve such a lovely crew.  
“Besides, I can always send Arthur, although God knows he can be more of a burden than help.”  
“Hey!”  
They all chuckled and Douglas said brightly.  
“Or even me!”   
Martin looked at him doubtfully; Douglas clutched his heart in mock sadness.  
“Who could ever forget the courageous outing of Doug, Mart and Arth?” Martin smiled fondly at this memory. He stared round at the crew.  
“Thank you, every one of you.”   
Carolyn smiled ruefully and she left with Douglas who elected to do the belated walk around. Arthur was left looking at Martin, and to Martin’s utter surprise he threw himself onto the shocked captain, shouting,  
“Skip, oh Skip, please don’t be sad, I can’t bear it!”  
Oof, it felt like he was being slowly squeezed to death by a very cuddly but strong bear. Martin patted Arthur’s back awkwardly, his face rather muffled by Arthur’s shoulder. Why were their hugs always so spontaneously awkward?  
“Thank you, Arthur! I feel much better!”   
He was very skinny, was Skip. Arthur resolved to solve this and made a sneaky Arthur plan for later. He finally let go of Martin, using the excuse that he would prepare them all some much needed coffee. Martin stared after him wondering how he had managed to earn two Arthur Shappey hugs in a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the angst! Poor, poor Martin- sometimes he just needs to swallow his pride and accept any help he can get!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, a nice long chapter!

The rest of the flight passed with Martin drinking many cups of the delicious coffee that Arthur had bought him while Arthur tried to sneak him as much food as possible, which he found quite a pleasing challenge because he was only limited to what he could find on the plane. Carolyn read a book peacefully throughout the journey and when she and Martin spoke to each other they were very polite, as if afraid either would set the other one off. Douglas sung a few songs at a request from Arthur, which he only did when he felt in a very good mood. Martin regretted insinuating that Carolyn should get another pilot, and they did not mention the conversation again. They had only been popping on a small flight to the Isle of Man to deliver some taped boxes to a man who clearly had more money than sense, but Carolyn was obviously glad that they had chosen MJN. These flights where they went to the destination and came back in the same day usually were more of a waste of money than a profit, but the elusive customer that had booked them for this delivery had offered a little extra for only giving Carolyn a small amount of notice for the delivery. Although Carolyn could use the extra cash, she went over to Arthur when he was stood in the galley, cleaning and whistling merrily. She pressed a twenty pound note into his hand. 

“Oh, thanks Mum! I thought I wasn’t allowed pocket money anymore since I gave it all to that donkey sanctuary?”  
“Arthur, I am not against you giving money to charity, it’s just that you were being scammed. Pinocchio is not a true story- there is no such things as a ‘children that got turned into donkey’ orphanage!”  
“Aww, I couldn’t help it, they had a picture of a baby donkey on the poster!”   
Carolyn shook her head at her son’s warm heart, silly though it sometimes could be. She had no idea where he got it from.  
“Anyway, Arthur, I gave you that money so you could buy Martin something so he is not starving. I know he won’t take it from me, but God knows no one can resist your puppy dog eyes.”   
Arthur smiled warmly at her and pocketed the money. It was funny, really; people often saw his Mum as a cold and hard hearted woman but Arthur knew this was not true. He thought she was a bit like a gobstopper- hard and pristine on the outside, but scratch the surface and you would find beneath more hardness layers of softness and sweetness. Although of course Arthur would never say this to his mum; somehow he didn’t think she would appreciate being compared to a sweet. 

When they arrived back in Fitton, Martin turned to begin the long walk home. Arthur grabbed his shoulder.  
“Don’t be silly, Skip! We go past your house!” Now this wasn’t strictly true, but Martin didn’t have the energy to argue, so accepted gracefully. They dropped him off and as soon as the car turned round the corner Martin started to feel oddly lonely, which was strange because he always returned to his flat alone. Trying in vain to shake off the feeling, Martin let himself into the house and made his way up to his room. When he got inside, he kicked of his shoes and flopped onto his bed, wishing ruefully that he had more of Arthur’s admittedly tasty crisp sandwiches. The feeling of loneliness still pervaded, however, and he tried to take his mind off it by reading the flight manual on his small bedside table, which usually worked but today proved futile. For an hour he stared at the ceiling, which he seemed to be doing a lot lately, daydreaming about what it would be like to fly without any stress. He was just about to go and make himself a milk less cup of tea when there was a small knock on his door. Martin frowned; the students rarely asked him for anything, but he couldn’t just ignore them. He made his way to the battered oak door and opened it to find a somewhat sheepish Penelope stood there.  
“Oh, hey Martin! Someone’s at the door for you.”  
What? He wasn’t expecting anyone and he didn’t think had ever had any visitors at this house, miserable though that was to admit. He hoped it wasn’t someone bearing more bad news.   
“Oh, I’ll go down and let them in.” Penelope looked all the more sheepish at this.  
“Actually, he’s in the kitchen downstairs. Seemed pretty enthusiastic about coming in.”   
Well, that sounded familiar. Indeed, when Martin made his way downstairs and into the poky student kitchen, he saw Arthur stood chatting to some of the students happily, looking slightly out of place in his full steward uniform. When he saw Martin he gave a little wave.  
“Martin, hi! Sorry- I would’ve come to your flat but I’ve never been here before and I didn’t want to have a look and get lost because it’s awfully rude to walk into someone’s room, even by accident!”  
One of the students who had been talking to Arthur quirked his lips.  
“He’s just been telling us about flying, Martin.”  
“Yes, about how you’re the best Captain ever and about how you managed to land G-ERTI on one engine and how you saved me from an evil old woman!”  
“Err, yes, well thank you Arthur! Let’s go upstairs now.”  
Martin didn’t interact with the students much and he thought that they assumed he was just a weird eccentric who was sometimes there, but most often out. He tried to ignore the giggles of some of the students as Arthur talked, as he always was very enthusiastic when he gestured and he didn’t want anyone to make a mean comment about him.  
“Righto, Skip! Lead the way!”   
As martin passed Arthur to take the lead, he couldn’t help noticing that he was holding a large bag with a polar bear pattern printed on it, now doubt what was causing some of the students to giggle. He decided to ask him about it later, when they were far away from prying eyes. Martin felt a sense of dread the closer he got to his room. He knew Arthur wasn’t the type to judge, but how could he possibly be cheery about a tiny room barely big enough for the miniscule ‘kitchen’ and a bed?

But he should have known not to underestimate Arthur’s abundant cheeriness.   
“Oh wow! It must be nice to have all your things neat and tidy and in one place! I’m forever losing things in my room and it drives Mum mad.”   
“Arthur, you don’t have to be polite about my pathetic excuse for a flat.” Arthur shook his head violently.  
“No, I mean it! Sometimes it’s not so good having a big room when you’re by yourself. It’s...lonely. “   
Martin had a difficult time imagining Arthur being lonely. Even though he knew he was an adult he could imagine Arthur holding the lonely silences at bay with conversations with some stuffed bear toys or something. It made him sad to think of Arthur in a big room feeling lonesome.  
“So, Arthur, and I‘m not annoyed at all, but how come you’ve come to my flat?” Arthur sat on the end of Martin’s bed and carefully placed his jolly bag on the floor before replying.  
“I hope I’m not being rude, it’s just I think Mum’s been a bit stressed recently so Herc came round to try and cheer her up. I felt a bit in the way and you were the only person I could think of. I know Douglas is seeing his daughter tonight. I don’t really have anyone else.” He said this as a straight fact without any self-pity, but it still made Martin feel so sad.   
“You’re not being rude at all! I’ve never really had a guest before so I suppose it will be fun to try. I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer in the way of food or entertainment though.” Arthur cracked a smile and he accidentally nudged the bag with his foot, which slipped to the floor with a small clatter. Martin eyed it suspiciously.  
“Arthur, what’s in that bag?”  
“Now, Skip, I just need to say something before you get annoyed-“  
“Arthur-“  
“I can’t come to someone’s house uninvited and not bring anything! That would be too rude; I’d be ashamed at myself.”  
Martin reached down and picked up the bag, eyeing the contents wearily. He lifted out the topmost items which happened to be a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread.  
“Arthur, you don’t bring bread and milk to someone’s house.”   
“But what if we want tea? Or toast? I'm just preparing for all situations.”  
Damn Arthur for being so sweet.  
“Fine! I’ll put the milk in the fridge. Come on, we might as well unload the rest of this banquet together.” Arthur lifted off the bed with obvious glee at successfully getting Martin to take the food. Martin heaved the bag onto his small kitchen work surface, it was deceptively heavy.   
And so, they spent a while unloading the food and finding proper places for it in Martin’s small kitchen area. It could have been a quick job, but Martin was constantly being surprised at what came out of the bag.  
“Bakewell tarts? How could you possibly know I like those?”  
“Well, you really like cherry jam so I thought you might like these Cherry Bakewells. They are really super nice, but I wouldn’t advise putting a whole one in your mouth cos the cherry on top can sometimes get caught in your throat. Believe me. “  
A short while later,  
“Alphabetti spaghetti? Arthur, really?”  
“Come on skip! You can spell your WHOLE NAME. And words like ‘brilliant’ and ‘polar bear’ and even ‘otters’. Though you’ll have to help me find a ‘k’ because I’ve never found one and want to know if they even exist…”  
And then,  
“Jelly babies and gummy bears? Arthur, you spoil me.”  
“It’s great if you get both because then the bears and the babies can have a sort of picnic together and when you eat them you don’t feel bad because you know they have friends.”

And so they carried on for a good long while. Arthur had managed to squeeze in some essentials such as rice and cheese and quite a few potatoes. Although Martin hated feeling like a charity case, he had to admit that he had been pretty desperate recently and that he was never going to start getting his life on track if he carried on refusing help from everyone, especially as they required nothing back except his happiness. When they had finally emptied the bag, Martin began to make them cups of tea which for some reason made Arthur rather giggly.  
“Ooh, it’s strange you making me tea!”   
Martin gave him his most garish mug, one from a trip to Hawaii a couple of years back that had a lovely lady in a grass skirt set against the backdrop of a azure blue sea. Arthur took is happily and smiled when he took a sip.  
“Mmm, ooh nice and sugary, just how I like it!”   
Martin grinned; he may not have served Arthur many drinks, but he knew exactly what he liked. They both returned to the bed and sat on it with a bakewell tart each as Martin didn’t really any chairs to sit on. Martin took a bite and shuddered with leisure at the delicious almond taste.  
“Arthur, please come round more often so I can eat these forever.”  
Wait, was that a weird thing to say? Arthur didn’t seem to think so.  
“Of course! I don’t know why I haven’t done it more often. We could have so much fun!”  
“There isn’t much to do in here, I'm afraid.” Arthur waved his half eaten tart at this comment dismissively.  
“We don’t have to do anything really to have fun! We don’t do much on G-ERTI and we still have fun, don’t we?”

Martin had to admit that this was true. He supposed that he kept on forgetting that he didn’t need to put up a show for Arthur or try and convince him so have a good time because regardless of what Martin tried to do Arthur would have a good time anyway. Sometimes people, and Martin certainly had been guilty of this in the past, had found Arthur’s boundless optimism annoying and unnecessary, but Martin was starting to find it a balm for his depressing head. He lay against the pillows listening to Arthur’s constant chatter, grinning at what he said and having a genuinely nice time. After a while, Arthur moved to replenish their supply of snacks, and Martin was left to his thoughts for a moment. What would be really nice, he thought, would be a present for Arthur to repay him for coming round and making sure that he was ok. Oh, Martin was under no allusions as to the real reason for Arthur’s visit; he could believe that Herc really had come to visit Carolyn because Arthur simply could not lie, but he knew that Arthur had his own part of the house and could have just hidden there. He scanned his room eagerly, trying to discern if there was anything suitable to give to Arthur. He remembered that there was a box under his bed filled with stuff he’d brought over from his Mum’s house when he had moved out all those years ago and he rummaged in it , making sure that he didn’t bash his hand on anything, and his hands soon enclosed on his prize.   
Arthur came back to the bed, balancing two plates on his arms with pop tarts on them. He sat down on the bed and laid one of the plates in front of Martin, slowly noticing that he was holding something behind his back. 

“What’ve you got there, Skip?” He said with interest.   
“I’ve got you a little present.” He stretched his arms out to show Arthur a small model aeroplane, his face rather bashful. Arthur took it off him delicately.  
“F-for me?”  
“Yes, I know it’s not much, considering I put it together and painted it years ago, but-“  
“Oh, please don’t apologise, it’s, it’s,” He stroked the little propeller, watching it spin with wonder.  
“Absolutely brilliant.”  
Martin blushed; anyone he had ever revealed his secret yet obvious hobby to had treated him with scorn or indifference, but Arthur was looking at it as if it was the most precious gift he had ever been given. Martin looked at the plane, his head suddenly filled with memories.  
“I used to make them in secret; my Dad went mad if he ever found them. Smashed them all up, but I saved this one because my Mum had bought it for me in secret and I couldn’t bear to disappoint someone else.”   
Arthur looked at the little plane in sadness, imagining a young Martin painstakingly putting it together, knowing that if he ever revealed his efforts he would only be criticised. He looked straight into Martin’s eyes, and for once, Martin didn’t see a childlike man, but a warm and kind soul staring back.  
“I hardly ever get gifts. Yeah, people in the past always tried to give me stuff but it was always to get on my good side because they knew my dad was rich. No one has ever given me such a thoughtful gift before, Skip. I’ll make sure I look after it.”   
Martin definitely felt a shift in the air as he stared into those infinite green eyes. Arthur was perfectly still, waiting, and if Martin just leaned-

There was a knock on the door and a shouted “Martin! Do you have any cups we can use?”  
Martin and Arthur jumped as if they had been electrified, upsetting the uneaten pop tarts, which fell to the floor with a clatter. Arthur, red faced, bent down to pick them up as Martin went to the door, irritated. Honestly, the students never usually interrupted him. He opened it and glared at two students who were barely containing their giggles.  
“No, sorry, I don’t. Just wash up the ones that Leon always leaves around.”  
Damn them, they knew that! They were just sneaking a peek at their mystery housemate’s guest so they could have some interesting gossip to spread around. They left with a few muttered ‘sorry’s and Martin slammed the door. Arthur was sat back on the bed with the saved pop tarts; he handed a plate to Martin and they munched in silence. Martin took another bite and frowned.  
“Arthur, are there Oreos in this pop tart?”  
“Oh, yes! You can get all sorts of flavours now from the American Food section of the supermarket- apple pie, Oreo, chocolate fudge...”   
And with that, their easy chat resumed. They spoke late into the night about everything and nothing, and Martin even forgot to be tired for a while. He hardly realised he was yawning, and he swore he was just going to close his eyes for a moment and- he was asleep. Arthur stared at the sleeping Martin for a moment, enjoying how peaceful he looked with his eyes closed and ginger lashes ghosting his cheeks. He couldn’t help it; he brushed an errant curl from Martin’s forehead and drew the duvet round him. Arthur stayed watching him for a while, then curled his body up next to Skip, unable to resist resting his head on his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, writing this has certainly got in the way of doing uni work! But oh well, I'm enjoying it and are thankful for those reading! :) Enjoy the happiness...while it lasts! *evil cackle*


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More than 200 hits! Oh, thank you so much! This means so much to me, as I have always been slightly reluctant to write fanfiction. I'm really happy now :)

The bright morning sun shone through Martin’s small window and woke him up, as it usually did. He felt incredibly comfortable for some reason, in fact he could almost feel arms encircling him-  
Arthur was in his bed next to him! Of course, Martin didn’t see him leave last night, and he certainly hadn’t wanted him to. It was always a little strange seeing Arthur asleep as he was devoid of his usual bundles of energy, but Martin smiled at the slightly snuffling man next to him, his body curled around Martin. Loathe though he was to wake up the peaceful steward, Martin knew he would have to soon because they had another flight scheduled for today, and it was already going to look a little unusual when Arthur and Martin turned up together. But Martin allowed himself a few more moments with the sleeping Arthur; he couldn’t recall any time in his life when he had woken up next to someone and not felt embarrassed, neither as a child or a boyfriend. None of his relationships had ever been particularly successful, and he had always been somewhat starved of affection. After a couple of minutes though, Martin really had to wake Arthur up and he placed his hand on his shoulder, shaking him softly.  
“Arthur?”  
Arthur shifted slightly, then buried his head further into Martin’s shoulder.  
“Arthur? You need to get up now.”  
He heard a small grunt and Arthur reluctantly rose, rubbing his eyes. Martin smiled again; who knew that Arthur Shappey would wake up like and adorable and grumpy bear? Martin could see that his brown curls had been mussed up by the impromptu snooze in the bed and that his stewards uniform was slightly crumpled; he suspected his clothes weren’t much better.  
“Hey, Arthur, how about I fix us up some breakfast and find you my iron?”  
“Thanks, Skip! If you need anything ironing just chuck it here!”  
Martin threw Arthur his jacket and made his way to his small kitchen. In the past, he might have been slightly cautious of allowing Arthur near something as precious as his uniform with a hot and potentially dangerous item like an iron, but he felt he could trust him. After all, Arthur was good at surprising him.

Martin busied himself with making the toast, hearing Arthur whistling merrily in the background and carefully ironing their clothes. He had taken off his waistcoat as that had become rather creased, and Martin wondered how Arthur could have ever thought that he was fat. He was certainly well built, but Martin just thought of him as cuddly and sweet. If anyone ever called him that again, Martin would summon all of his Captainly powers and get his revenge. When the toast was ready, he got out a nutella jar Arthur had brought him the day before and made smiley faces in the delicious chocolate spread. Arthur smiled with delight when he saw them.  
“Oh wow! I love it when my food has smiley faces on it! My Mum used to do it when I was little but she told me I was a grown man now and that I could do it myself. Just give me a second, my hands are a bit full-“  
Martin wasn’t quite sure why he did it; he supposed that he felt in a bit of a playful mood that morning. He picked up a piece of the toast when Arthur was talking and placed it into his mouth. Arthur’s eyes widened and he stopped talking immediately, munching the toast. Martin saw a playful gleam in his eye, and before he could do anything, Arthur had grabbed another piece of the toast and had pressed Martin to the bed, trying to get the piece into his mouth.  
“Two can play at that game, Skip!” Martin laughed and tried to wriggle free, causing Arthur to miss his mouth with the bread and as a result getting the nutella all over Martin’s face, which caused them both to laugh even more. Martin tried unsuccessfully to lick the nutella off his face and Arthur watched his tongue dart round with interest. They were both breathless with giggling when Arthur’s phone beeped with a message, which was Carolyn asking where he was and if he needed picking up because she was already at the airfield and was not a taxi service. Martin looked at Arthur uncertainly.  
“How about we walk? It’s not such a bad day and the walk might freshen us up a bit.”  
Arthur agreed enthusiastically; he loved going on walks and it was very rare indeed when he had a willing participant that he could discuss his surroundings with. He finally lifted off the bed and handed Martin’s ironed jacket to him, watching as Martin tried to get the remaining chocolate spread off his face.  
“Here,”  
Arthur reached over to remove the last splodge, and licked the spread off his finger so as to not waste the chocolate. Martin looked bashful, and they gathered their things and left the room. They passed some students on the stairs who raised their eyebrows at Martin suggestively. One of the girls who had knocked on his door last night said,  
“Having fun, Martin?”  
Her cheeky grin told him that they had definitely heard thumps from their play fight downstairs. Martin chose not to rise to the bait and answered curtly.  
“Yes, thank you.”

Arthur looked ecstatic at the idea that Martin was having fun with him and they had quickly left the giggling students behind. Martin usually didn’t enjoy the walk to the airfield much, as it was quite a long slog, but with Arthur it was extremely enjoyable. He would point out with shining eyes any animal that they walked past, no matter how mundane (“Look, a big fluffy cat! I wanted a cat but Mum said that Snoopadoop wouldn’t want to be friends and I don’t want to upset her.” and “Oh, that pigeons got a white neck, isn’t that odd?”) and slowed down for Martin who had much shorter legs and simply could not keep up with the energetic Arthur. More than once Martin saw Arthur glance at the top of his polar bear patterned bag fondly, and he knew that the model plane he had given to him was resting carefully at the top. The thought made him feel a bit mushy, so he tried to concentrate on the walk. All too soon, they arrived at Fitton Airfield. They weren’t exactly late, but Martin was usually there quite early so Carolyn was a little worried at where he might be, not that she would have admitted it to anyone. The always impressive figure of Herc was standing next to her and broke into a smile as he saw Arthur and Martin arrive.  
“Morning, chaps! I am terribly sorry that we drove you away, Arthur-“  
“Herc, Arthur is a grown adult and if he wants to leave the house who are we to stop him-“  
“Thank you, Carolyn. And good morning Martin! Looks like a fine day to fly!”  
Ah, Carolyn and Herc’s bickering was always a joy to see. Martin knew that behind Carolyn’s supposed scowl she was really enjoying herself, and he knew Herc loved it too. Before long, Douglas arrived at the air field. He spied Herc.  
“Morning all, and Herc.”  
“Morning, Douglas. Fashionably late, as usual?” Douglas sniffed.  
“But of course, especially as I believe I was the original influence for that term.”  
“Oh, really? Wow!” They all laughed at Arthur’s gullibility, but it was merry rather than cruel and even Arthur joined in. Martin turned to Carolyn.  
“So, where are we off to today then?”  
“Sadly, it is a passenger flight today. We are flying and insufferably rich hen do to Lanzarote.”  
They all groaned; stag dos were the bane of the air industry and hen dos weren’t much better. There was usually a picky mother of the bride and mother in law who ended up staging a fight on G-ERTI and Arthur almost always ended up in the crossfire.  
“Oh well, at least they’re paying. But why is Herc coming?” Carolyn paused.  
“Well, considering we have been requested to bring this party back in three days, I thought it would be pleasant to invite Herc to join me-“  
“Carolyn! We are not ferrying your boyfriend around for free!”  
“At the resort so I’m not just left with you dunderheads.”  
Douglas paused, having the decency to look ashamed.  
“We’re having a small holiday…together?”  
“Yes, if that is ok? ” Carolyn snapped impatiently.  
“I have booked us a cheap hotel, but you are free to refuse.”  
“No, no…thank you, Carolyn.”  
Martin and Arthur thanked her profusely as well, but she waved them away.  
“Well, it is sort of a business stay, but I am sure we can pretend it is a nice holiday. Come on, Herc, let’s get the best seats on the plane before some of the airheaded hen party idiots try to nab them.”  
Carolyn was just about to turn to board G-ERTI, when a cacophony of noise in the distance stopped her in her tracks. She listened intently, then groaned as she saw a group of scantily clad ladies wearing sashes approaching the aeroplane. Douglas said dryly,  
“Well, they have started early.”  
The party of ladies was soon among them, and Martin turned to Arthur with eyebrows raised as if to say ‘here we go’, but he was puzzled to see an absolutely shocked expression on Arthur’s face. He was staring at a pretty, yet somewhat hard faced blonde woman who was wearing the sash which proclaimed that she was the ‘Bride To Be’. He heard Arthur squeak.  
“Minty?”  
She swivelled round to face him, and he saw horrified recognition dawning on Carolyn’s face.  
“Oh my God, is that you Arthur?”  
Minty? Why did that name ring a bell? One of the other members of the hen do turned to another and whispered very loudly,  
“Oh, I remember! That’s one of Minty’s ex-boyfriends.”  
Martin and Douglas exchanged a shocked glance; not to be harsh on Arthur, but they had expected his exes to be a bit more, well, Arthurish. But this lady was elegant and had a sort of sly expression if you looked close enough. Arthur was still standing rigidly, and Minty went over and threw her arms around him. For some reason this began to annoy Martin, especially as she seemed to hold onto him for an obscene amount of time. One of the older ladies, either her mother or mother in law, coughed pointedly and Minty let go after planting a rather large kiss on Arthur’s cheek.  
“So lovely to see you, Arthur.”  
When she walked past him and reached Carolyn, her expression faltered slightly.  
“Good morning, Madeline.” Carolyn had refused to call her Minty even when she and Arthur had been dating. She would not hold with such nonsense.  
“Oh, hello.”  
Minty faltered, and it was obvious that she was struggling to remember Carolyn’s name. This annoyed Carolyn quite a bit as she had seen a lot of Minty in the past. Too much, some would say. In an attempt to salvage the situation, one of the older ladies stepped forward and took Carolyn’s hands.  
“Carolyn! It’s me, Marge! I didn’t think your airline was still going.”  
Carolyn gritted her teeth and began a conversation with her and Arthur started boarding the passengers. Martin and Douglas were left at the bottom of the plane with Herc. They looked at each other wearily. At last, Douglas spoke mournfully.  
“Why is nothing ever simple?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I sound like a broken record, but I am truly thankful for all views/comments/kudos! :D  
> A longish one, as trouble is a brewin'!

Martin was really not enjoying the flight, which was unfortunate as he had three hours of it to endure. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except he was feeling oddly irritated by the chattering passengers which he could hear clearly through the door. Well, with one chatting passenger in particular. It didn’t help that when he went through the main body of the aeroplane, to go to the toilet of course, that Minty always seemed to be demanding Arthur’s attention. Surely someone who was about to be getting married shouldn’t be looking at Arthur with such gooey eyes or keep on touching his hand when he said anything she thought was funny? His only consolation was that Arthur looked a bit uncomfortable, but with his damnable politeness he couldn’t just leave and hide in the galley. When Martin returned to the flight deck grinding his teeth, Douglas looked up at him with concern. 

“Goodness, you really don’t like her, do you?”  
“What? Not like who?”   
“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know! Minty, although I feel slightly ill saying that name.”  
Martin wasn’t sure what to say because he was not one hundred percent sure himself.  
“I just have…a bad feeling about her.”  
“Martin, you had a bad feeling about that woman who you thought was smuggling and it turned out she just had a bag of pretzels she wanted to bring to her sister.”  
“She kept rustling round in her bag really shiftily! It’s always best to be on your guard!”  
“Even so. Surely she cannot be too bad if Arthur used to go out with her?”

Martin had to agree with this, irritating though it was. He and Douglas resumed their concentration on the flying, and soon a thunder faced Carolyn entered the flight deck with Herc in tow, who looked like he didn’t want to be abandoned with the rest of the passengers. 

“I cannot believe it.”   
“Carolyn, how did you not know it was her when she booked the trip?”   
Carolyn’s eyes flashed with anger.  
“She booked it in her fiancés name, probably because he was paying for it. In fact definitely, if I remember Madeline correctly.”   
Martin looked at Douglas triumphantly.  
“So she was bad then, was she?”   
“Well, at first she was no worse than the other wretched pushy types that Arthur seems to attract, but I thought it would be alright because she is the daughter of a family friend.”  
Martin seemed to deflate a bit. That seemed too much of a comfortable relationship. Carolyn looked at him pointedly.  
“A family friend on Gordon’s side.”  
“Oh. Ohh.”  
“Yes, I think Gordon fashioned the relationship somewhat, seemed rather eager that Arthur should have a girlfriend although I have no idea what he was trying to prove.”  
Wait, that sounded vaguely familiar to Martin. He could remember the countless girls that his father had pointed out to him, probably to convince himself that Martin was straight. Could it be the same sort of thing for Arthur? But perhaps Martin shouldn’t wish for that; it seemed a bit selfish. He envied this Minty a bit.  
“So, is she rich then?”  
“Oh, God yes. Although I seem to remember she paid for very little even though Gordon has never been particularly generous with money with Arthur. She was not particularly rude to me but I always felt that she had a sly little plan going on.”  
Douglas looked affronted.  
“That’s not always a bad thing!”  
“It is when the person involved is Arthur who couldn’t spot a sly plan if it danced in front of him with a lemon on its head.”   
That was true. It would be pretty cruel to try and get one over on Arthur; he was simply too gullible.  
“So, did they go out for long?” Martin tried to act casual, but Carolyn looked at him suspiciously.  
“For about a year, I am not entirely sure at the reason for their breaking up but it was not pleasant. Why Martin, tempted by the Pony Club allure of ‘Minty’?”  
Martin shuddered.  
“God no. I wouldn’t go out with someone just because they were rich anyway- it would be more of a pity relationship than anything.” Carolyn looked thoughtful.  
“This is going to sound terrible but I think that is what their relationship was like. I think Madeline was always a bit frustrated with Arthur’s lack of, of-“ Clearly struggling for an inoffensive word, Herc chipped in.  
“Understanding?”  
“Yes, his lack of understanding. But I’m sure she could forgive that when she thought of Gordon’s riches.” Herc and Douglas looked at each other mournfully.   
“Whatever happened to the romance of our youth, Douglas?”  
“It obviously died when we stopped looking after it. I weep for this generation.”  
Carolyn just shook her head smiling and went with Herc back to rejoin the other travelers. After debating for a few moments at what word game they should while away the time, Martin and Douglas settled on a game of ‘rhyming places in Britain’.  
“Alton to Bolton? Warrington to Accrington?”   
“Eccles to…Beccles.”  
“Oh come on, Martin!”  
“Hey, Warrington and Accrington are similar too!”  
“We can cast a vote from all of our passengers, but I assure you with extreme confidence that I shall emerge victorious.”  
But the game wasn’t an unpleasant one and the time passed suitably. After a while, they heard a noise outside of the door Arthur fell into the flight deck, shutting the door behind him abruptly and leaning on it as if he was expecting it to burst open. Douglas looked at him with sympathy.  
“Oh, Arthur. I never expected you to have girl troubles.”   
“It’s fine, really, I just wish she’d stop being so touchy feely. Her friends are starting to look at me funny and I don’t want her fiancé to be sad.”   
Trust Arthur to think of other people. Martin tried to be comforting.  
“Arthur, if she tries anything on then it is her fault and we will definitely let them know that. Don’t feel bad for something you haven’t caused to happen.”  
“Thanks, Skip. I keep trying to run away but she keeps calling me back.” He had a smudge on his face made from the lipstick that Minty’s kiss had left on his cheek. Martin dearly wanted to reach up and scrub it off but he knew Douglas would have something to say about that. He tried to concentrate on something else.  
“Was she alright, Minty? When you were dating, I mean.”  
“Oh, er, I suppose! I mean she can be a laugh but she got a bit…bossy sometimes. Oh I shouldn’t be mean! But she didn’t like it when I hung round other people and I really, really enjoy people.”   
Before Martin could say anything to this, the service bell rang and Arthur really had to go back in as it could be for anyone, not just the very insistent bride to be. Martin decided he would follow Arthur in just in case any trouble arose, and Douglas let him because he felt, as a previously married man, that this situation could prove to be tricky.   
“Arthur! I was just wondering if I could pretty please have a glass of water?”   
Of course it was Minty who rang the bell. This was pathetic; Martin could see a water bottle poking out of her handbag for pities sake! He coughed pointedly and Arthur turned around, surprised as he had not seen Martin follow him.  
“Skip! I didn’t know you were there! Minty, this is Skip!” She looked at his admittedly unimpressive frame and her eyes lingered on his ginger hair.  
“What an … interesting name.”   
“Well, my name is Martin, actually. Arthur just calls me Skip because technically I am the Skipper of the aeroplane.”   
She didn’t even have the decency to look abashed.  
“Oh Arthur, you and your nicknames! I remember when you called me Minty because,” She paused as if expecting Arthur to finish her sentence, but he stared at her blankly. She recovered quickly.  
“You said I smelt of peppermints.”  
“Oh, yeah! That was at my dad’s house in Sidney, wasn’t it?”  
Minty squealed at the mention of Gordon.  
“Gordon! Oh, I simply haven’t seen your father for such a long time! How is he?”   
Martin was distressed at seeing Arthur overcome with a sudden silence.  
“I-I’ve not spoken to him for a while. He tried to steal G-ERTI and he’s refusing to talk to me. Even on Christmas.”   
Gosh, Martin didn’t know that. He had wondered on their Christmas flight why Arthur had returned from a phone conversation with such an unhappy expression. He had just assumed that Gordon had been unpleasant, but he must have just not bothered to pick up. Minty seemed to disregard this.  
“That’s awful, but to be honest if you ask me Arthur,” she lowered her voice.  
“It was frightfully inconsiderate for your mother to demand to have G-ERTI from the divorce. My father was incensed. “  
It wasn’t often that Martins Bad Feeling proved right, but he was beginning to like this lady less and less. Arthur seemed to be at a loss at what to say, which was interesting because Arthur could talk for England. Noticing this reluctance to speak, Minty cast about for a subject to grill Arthur on. Her eyes alighted on his hand that had the rapidly healing dog bite.  
“Oh dear, what on earth happened to your hand? It looks awful!” Arthur perked up; this was a topic he could safely talk about!  
“I got attacked by a dog, but it wasn’t really the dog’s fault it was his evil owner who Skip saved me from!” His eyes shone with such proudness that Minty could not miss it. She appraised Martin again, this time with more consideration.   
“So you’re the new Captain that Arthur’s mother had to employ! I didn’t know Caroline could afford a Captain!”   
Ooh, the mispronunciation of ‘Carolyn’ jarred, and Martin hated the condescending way she said this. He decided he’d had enough for now and made his excuse to return to the flight deck. He felt a smug sense of achievement when Arthur stared after him as if begging to return with him, but he felt uncomfortable at the way Minty seemed to interpret this. 

***  
When they finally arrived in Lanzarote, Carolyn squinted at the sheet which told them what hotel they were going to be staying at.  
“El Dorado, yes, I bet it is.”   
Hearing this, a small brunette in the hen party piped up,  
“Yes, we need a taxi to there, please.” There was a silence after this.  
“Excuse me?”  
“Hotel El Dorado, that’s where we are staying. Didn’t you know?” Carolyn’s face filled with horror as she processed what the girl had said. Minty looked over sweetly.  
“Oh yes, Fredrick told me he’d booked us a ghastly hotel so that I could get a proper working class holiday experience so that it would be all the more special when he swept me off my feet. It will be such an adventure!” 

Martin stared at her open mouthed, unable to withhold his astonishment at the temerity of this statement. He was guilty of going on those sorts of holidays, coming from a family that could barely scrape two coins together, and he thought it was incredibly rude to see this as something to be laughed at, a mere challenge. He was overcome with a feeling of dread that they were going to be staying with the hen party and turned to Carolyn in desperation. She whispered,  
“Don’t worry, if they act too troublesome we will let Herc and Douglas loose on them with no holding back.” Douglas heard this and gave a truly evil grin. Martin supposed that after experiencing it first hand, he would not like to be on the receiving end of Douglas’s wrath. He had once reduced a rude security guard to tears through only limericks. 

***  
The hotel that Carolyn had booked was never going to win any awards, but it had a pool and didn’t look too shabby if you ignored the edges. But Martin knew to count his blessings, as he was probably never going to be able to afford much better. It was rather touristy, filled with families, stag do’s and hen parties, but they could always escape to a nearby beach if it got too much. Of course, the penalty of letting her crew have a small holiday was that Carolyn could only book three rooms maximum, but this time Martin didn’t seem to care. When Minty overheard Carolyn telling them this she looked aghast.

“Oh, you mustn’t share! Arthur can stay with one of us!”  
Martin, Carolyn and Douglas all shouted “NO!” And Minty looked rather affronted.   
“I’m staying with Arthur!” Martin said crossly. When Minty’s eyes zoned in on him, he said quickly,  
“I need to run through some aviation related things. And we couldn’t possibly inconvenience you.” Arthur nodded his agreement vigorously, and Minty’s lips tightened. She bid them a slightly curt goodbye, and left to go and put her suitcase in her room. When she was gone, Arthur’s big false smile evaporated and he let out a long sigh. Carolyn looked at him in despair.  
“Arthur, you can just tell her to go away if you don’t want to speak to her.” But they all knew that Arthur was unable to do this; it was simply against his nature. He looked at Carolyn hopelessly.  
“She keeps talking to me about Dad. She said she hasn’t seen him in a while but my understanding people course in Ipswich told me that she was lying.” Carolyn froze, and Herc put a hand on her shoulder. It was a sign of Carolyn’s distress that she didn’t shake it off.  
“What? She’s in contact with your father?”   
To their immense surprise, Arthur’s voice had become rather wobbly.  
“Mum, why would dad rather speak to my ex-girlfriend than me?”   
Carolyn was not a particularly affectionate woman, but even she was not immune to the soul destroying sight of Arthur trying his best not to cry. Herc probably looked the most surprised as Carolyn let Arthur rest his head on her shoulder and she began softly patting his curls. She spoke in a strong, firm voice.  
“Arthur, if your father does not want to speak to you then it is his loss. If seeing Madeline had put these silly thoughts into your head, then I shall have words with her.”  
Douglas muttered.  
“Goodness, poor girl.” But he patted Arthur fondly on the back.   
“Let’s get you upstairs, hmm?” Douglas and Martin left with Arthur. Herc turned to Carolyn with a look of wonder.  
“Didn’t know you were so easily moved, Carolyn.” She sniffed haughtily.  
“I am a mother, Herc. Even my alpha dog ways can be ignored for my sad little puppy.” Herc kissed her on the cheek and she didn’t complain, just closer her eyes and wondered how she could have found a man that was so unlike Gordon, a man she really didn’t deserve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I managed to create a character even worse than Mrs Mortlock? Oh, I think I have! :O


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of you readers make me want to dance like Arthur Shappey at a disco party! :D

When Martin began unpacking his woefully small suitcase into the drawers in his hotel room, he couldn’t help but notice how abnormally quiet Arthur seemed to be. He was sat on one of the twin beds, looking out through their window at the beautiful view of the car park. Martin noticed that he hadn’t even begun unpacking, and he knew how much Arthur loved to put something in every draw. He went over nervously, clutching a pair of his socks absentmindedly in his hand. 

“You ok, Arthur? Look, some of the drawers look pretty lonely.”   
Arthur seems shocked out of his reverie, but smiled at Martin when he saw the socks in his hands.  
“I do usually separate my socks into them, but I didn’t bring any more pairs because I thought I wouldn’t be needing them because Mum told me that it would be quite hot here and I don’t like it much when my feet feel too hot.”   
Martin separated the pair in his hand and held one sock out to Arthur, feeling slightly foolish.  
“Shall we?” 

Arthur took it happily, and together they unpacked all of their bags. Martin was quite looking forward to this little holiday, as it was usually quite stressful when they stayed overnight at destinations, and he thought it was very kind of Carolyn to allow them all a couple of days to relax. But he started to realise, as he listened to Arthur’s happy chatter, that he was going to enjoy the holiday for a whole different reason; he was going to be spending it with Arthur. He wasn’t quite sure how this made him feel or how this had even happened, but he had been enjoying Arthur’s company more and more. Arthur had always been a little but constant ray of sunshine in his life, but recently he was really beginning to appreciate how much he glowed. Martin was terrible at conveying his feelings, but for now he was content to just be Arthur’s Skip. Little did he know, Arthur was also having a very difficult time trying to work out his own feelings. He had always admired Skip, right from the moment when he had become the new Captain because he was brilliant! But when Arthur was around him he felt a very strange funny feeling in his stomach, similar to the one he felt when he went into a nice hot bath, but the nicest and bubbliest bath he could think of. He felt that if anyone asked him what he thought of Skip now he would end up blurting out something very embarrassing. He simply contented himself with being the best, most helpful friend he could be, which is why he went to give Martin some food the other day. Not because he wanted to be able to spend time with Skip outside of his job, because he was being a good friend.

Martin pushed his emptied suitcase under his bed and heard a soft rap on the door. He opened it to find Douglas there, changed into cooler clothes and holding a book under his arm.  
“We are heading to the pool, do you want to join us?”  
It was funny how times had changed. Previously, Douglas would just go wherever he wanted, when he wanted without much regard to the rest of the crew; he liked doing his own thing. So Martin felt very touched that he had bothered to come and ask them to join him.  
“Yes, of course. I just need to get my trunks on and I’ll be out.” Douglas nodded and continued down the corridor. Martin felt slightly awkward as he lifted his swimming trunks out of the drawers and saw that Arthur was wondering the same thing.  
“I think I’ll just-“  
“I can get changed first-“  
“It’s ok, I’ll just use the bathroom!” 

Martin rushed into the bathroom with some clothes and shut the door behind him. Since when did the thought of getting changed in front of Arthur bother him so much? They had done it thousands of times before! He quickly got changed out of his uniform and put on his trunks, a pair of shorts and a light blue t-shirt. He ignored his depressingly skinny body in the cracked mirror as he always did and left the bathroom, hoping Arthur had also gotten changed, otherwise he would be in for a whole load of awkwardness. He was relieved; Arthur positively glowed in a red Hawaiian shirt complete with parrot print and as Martin took in his striped blue shorts, he made a mental note to ask Arthur to take him shopping next time he had enough money, unlikely though that may be. They both picked up a towel each and left the hotel room, Martin locking it safely behind them.   
The pool was surrounded by a few holiday goers, but it was fairly relaxed and Martin could see that Douglas had somehow managed to procure two sun bathing chairs for them, sat on his own with a pleased look on his face. He had probably charmed someone out of them, knowing him. Martin and Arthur placed their towels on the chairs while Douglas sipped serenely on what looked like pineapple juice complete with a jaunty purple cocktail umbrella. 

“You look very comfortable.”   
“I am sat in the sunshine with a delicious beverage and the fine works of Wilde, what more could a man want?” Arthur couldn’t help flicking his eyes towards Martin, but he decided against saying anything. Luckily, no one had noticed and Martin flopped down onto his lounger. Arthur, however, stayed standing and looked at Martin rather shyly.  
“I’m just going to go in to the pool. See you in a bit?”   
His voice sounded so hopeful that Martin smiled.  
“Yeah, I’ll join you in a second; just let me put some sun cream on. We Crieff’s burn to a crisp if we stay away from the shade for more than ten seconds.”   
“That’s a shame. We Richardson’s go bronze like an Adonis.”   
Martin rolled his eyes, Arthur’s tinkling laugh ringing in his ears.   
“Ok then, I’m feeling a bit hot so I’ll just jump in now.”   
And with that, he began to unbutton his shirt. Douglas had gone back to his book, but Martin found himself watching, his hand halfway towards fetching the bottle of sun cream. Soon Arthur had thrown off his garish but lovely shirt and bent to get his striped shorts off. Martin felt his cheeks begin to burn, and it definitely wasn’t because of the sun. They hardly ever got to enjoy the locations that they visited on their trips, and throughout most Arthur always wore his steward’s uniform, so it was a definite shock to see him stood in the blazing sunlight completely devoid of his usual attire. Sometimes it was difficult to remember that Arthur was in fact a full grown adult because of his childish tendencies, but as Martin stared at his shirtless body, he had to agree that Arthur was a very nice adult indeed. He was well built, but in a very sweet way, and of course he had to be wearing swimming trunks with otters on, of all things. Martin was beginning to suspect that he made his own clothes.   
“Erm, Skip? The sun cream bottle’s starting to spill.”   
Martin snapped out of his reverie; Arthur was looking at him peculiarly with his arms folded nervously across his bare chest and Martin had a sinking feeling that he had been caught watching him. Douglas looked over his book obliviously.  
“I think you might have caught the sun already, Martin.”   
Of course, this caused Martin to blush even harder, and he saw a strange, almost flirty look cross Arthur’s face, which was weird because he had thought that Arthur didn’t even know what flirting was. He saw Arthur unfold his arms, put them on his hips and begin the walk to the poolside, calling over his shoulder jauntily,  
“See you soon, Skip!” 

***  
Ugh, this was the part of holidays that Martin always hated; the walk to the pool. People always looked at his pale, skinny body in disgust, or at least he always thought they did. But still, he enjoyed swimming, even though he had to be wary of his inner ear problem so he never usually got the opportunity to do it. He could see Arthur splashing merrily around, as excited as any of the children. He saw Martin hovering at the poolside and he gave a little wave, treading water. Martin sat on the edge of the pool; he was always reluctant at first to go in. Arthur swam so that he was close to his legs, looking up at him in earnest.

“Aren’t you coming in?”  
“I always think it’s a bit cold at first, I usually like to- AH!”   
Arthur had grabbed his leg and pulled him into the pool with an enormous splash. Martin floundered around hopelessly under the water and grabbed the only thing he could feel, which happened to be Arthur’s waist. Arthur swam easily away from the deep end with the small figure of Martin clutching round him.   
“Skip? Are you alright?”  
Martin spluttered.  
“Yes fine, sorry, it’s just you know my ear-“ Arthur looked horrified and looked down at Martin frantically.  
“Oh no, I’m sorry, I was only trying to have fun and I’ve ruined it!”  
“It’s fine! Actually, it was quite fun, I should probably learn to let go a bit sometimes.”  
Strange though, even though he was clear of the deep end he still didn’t feel like letting go of Arthur’s surprisingly comfy waist. He heard a cough behind him.  
“Well, isn’t this comfortable?”  
Oh sod off! It was Minty, stood in the shallow end looking stupidly stunning in a small red bikini and regarding the pair with perfectly manicured eyebrows raised. Martin let go of Arthur immediately.  
“We were just- I fell and he saved- completely in control.” Minty ignored him completely and turned to Arthur, throwing her chest out and looking at him sweetly.  
“Arthur, do you want to do some laps with me? We used to have ever so much fun in my father’s private pool.” Arthur looked between the two helplessly.  
“Well, I wanted to check if Skip was ok, I mean I feel a bit bad-“  
“I’m sure Martin can look after himself, can’t you, Skip?” She turned to Martin with an imperious look as if he was a mere peasant. He drew himself up, very mindful of the fact that he was barely tall enough to fit his head over the water even in the shallower end.  
“It’s fine Arthur, just do what you want.” 

He swam huffily away, leaving a distressed looking Arthur and victorious Minty behind him. When he reached the end of the pool and clung on, he began to feel rather bad about the way he had treated Arthur, who clearly didn’t want to cause a fuss. He turned to see Herc clinging on to the poolside next to him; still managing to look cool even being a middle aged man in swimming trunks.  
“Everything ok, Martin?”  
“Fine, just fine.” Herc looked like he was trying to pick his words carefully.  
“You know, Martin, Arthur thinks the world of you.” Martin snapped out of his spying on Arthur, who was currently swimming alongside Minty morosely.  
“W-what?”   
“I am not trying to presume anything, but … I hope you will be happy. You and Arthur.”  
Martin couldn’t even be bothered to put up a fight or ask how Herc knew of his feelings.  
“He’s the sweetest man I know.” Herc smiled his benevolent smile.  
“I know. You know what? I would be glad to call him my son.”   
Martin had always respected Herc, but this simple confession made him realise what a truly good man he was.  
“That would…mean the world to him, you know?”   
“I will make sure I tell him one day.”   
“Herc?”  
“Yes, Martin?”  
“Don’t tell Douglas.”  
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”   
Herc swam away, and Martin turned to a very out of breath Arthur who was miming with difficulty ‘save me’. Luckily, some of Minty’s friends had begun swimming in the pool, and of course she couldn’t ignore them. Martin felt that he should try and cheer up Arthur again, somehow.  
“Hey, Arthur. I bet you’ve never played ‘who can hold their breath for the longest underwater before!” Arthur looked ecstatic as the prospect of playing a game with Martin, and for a good long while they messed around in the pool until Martin really had to go out and top up his sun cream. Arthur emerged from the water with him and they both moved towards the sun loungers and Douglas. It really was a gorgeous day, and soon enough they began to feel rather hot again. Arthur announced that he was going to go and get them all ice creams, ignoring Martin’s promise to pay him back.

“I’m getting them for all of us- a ‘hooray we’re spending a holiday together even G-ERTI ‘ present!” Martin watched his retreating figure fondly and was startled when he turned to Douglas and saw a frown creasing his face.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Well, I don’t want you to worry, but I went to top up my drink before and when I was at the bar I was stood next to that dratted hen party of ours. I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation, and they seem to be in a split over poor Arthur.   
Coldness flooded Martin’s veins.  
“In a split? How?”

“Half of them seem to be annoyed at our delightful bride’s, ahem, eagerness with Arthur, but the others, well. They seem to think for some bizarre reason that he is leading her on.”  
This was absurd, utterly stupid. Arthur had been cornered by the woman!  
“But she won’t leave him alone. What’s he supposed to do?” Douglas let out a long sigh of a man with far too much experience in this matter.  
“I’ve seen women like her before, all sweetness and roses until she wants something that she’s not allowed, or lost before. There has to be some reason why she’s so keen to attract Arthur, or at least to appear to.”  
“But what would be the point of that? Arthur doesn’t have much to offer in the way of money now that his dad-“ He stopped and he and Douglas exchanged a look.  
“Gordon.” Douglas spat the name out in disgust.  
“You don’t think…?”  
“But who else could it be? Arthur said he thought that Minty had been in contact with him.”   
“What should we do then?”  
“I suppose we shall just have to try and keep him out of her way. We will have to be on Arthur-watching duty.” And Minty-watching, Douglas thought dryly. They had to end their conversation as Arthur had bounded back into view, somehow balancing three enormous ice creams in his hands.  
“Oh, they had everything- sprinkles and flakes and sauce and chocolate chips…”  
Poor Arthur. How could anyone accuse him of being manipulative?


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware, a storm is brewing...

The rest of the day passed without much of a furore, as Martin and Douglas were keen to keep Arthur out of Minty’s sight. This task actually served to make Arthur practically shine with happiness, as it wasn’t often that people wanted to spend so much time with him. After the events at the pool, they were keen to leave the hotel for a little while and return for dinner, so they began a little walk down to the beach. They were going to visit the beach properly the next day, but Arthur was adamant that he wanted to see the sea before it went dark. When he wasn’t being snarky, Douglas was actually very good company as he seemed to have limitless knowledge of the world. Martin reflected that perhaps this was why he always seemed to have such extraordinarily good luck; he was always prepared for every situation. He regaled them with facts about how Lanzarote was a volcanic island, and so he and Martin spent a good ten minutes assuring Arthur that the island wasn’t going to suddenly erupt on them, and that no it wasn’t the land that killed off the dinosaurs. It was all in very good humour though, and all three were enjoying the walk immensely. It was difficult not to tease Arthur a little.

“Did you know, Arthur, that Lanzarote is part of the Canary Islands?”  
“Oh wow! Does that mean there are canaries here? Oh gosh, I love canaries- if we see one can I pretty please take it home because I promise I’ll love it and look after it, I really, really will!”  
“Yes, there are hundreds and hundreds of canaries if you look hard enough, all in the trees, relaxing on the beach…”  
“Well, Skip, if there are that many then I’ll have to take two home because it’s terribly sad when a lovely canary has to live all on its own without a canary friend to look after them and...bring them food.”  
He caught Martin’s eye when he said this, then looked quickly away. The moment passed however, when Douglas said,  
“Oh, Arthur we’re just having you on. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly and it absolutely does, that the name the ‘Canary Islands’ actually comes from the Latin Canariae Insulae meaning ‘Island of the Dogs-“  
“ISLAND OF DOGS- WE ARE ON…AN…ISLAND…OF...DOGS? DOGS AND CANARIES?”  
“Arthur-“  
“We should’ve brought Snoopadoop. I feel awful now.”

Martin and Douglas couldn’t help it, they laughed and laughed at Arthur’s crestfallen face, the image of Arthur trying to track down various hidden canines and canaries proving too much for them. Noticing their prolonged laughter, Arthur looked at them a little sadly.  
“I-I'm being stupid again, aren’t I?” They stopped laughing immediately.  
“Oh no, we didn’t mean-“  
“It was just funny, the image-“  
“It’s alright. I know I am.” 

Douglas and Martin exchanged a wild glance, wondering how their light-hearted fun could have turned so suddenly. Douglas spoke first.  
“Arthur, you are not stupid. It’s not stupid to believe the best in people.”  
“Yes, if we were all more like you the world would be an infinitely better and kinder place.”  
Douglas looked carefully at Martin when he said this, but made no further comment. Arthur smiled slightly at their heartfelt words, but his face still contained a tinge of melancholy. Martin supposed it must be hard believing you weren’t an idiot when people always called you one, goodness knows he had been called a failure enough times to believe it of himself. They resumed their walk in silence, until the glittering sea honed into view. Martin and Douglas knew what was coming next, Arthur did it every time they came into view of the vast expanse of blue, and soon enough they heard a shout of:  
“I see the seaaa!”

Before they could stop him, he bounded across the sand, leaping over any shells that he might accidentally tread on. They saw him leap into the waves, a look of pure joy on his face as he felt the water splash onto his legs. Douglas made a sideways glance at Martin.  
“Oh to hell with it- let’s join him.” And Douglas took off after the excitable steward across the sparkling sands, bellowing.  
“They didn’t call me Poseidon at college for nothing!”   
Martin ran as fast as his short legs could carry him, feeling the blazing heat and warm sand fill his shoes and not caring a bit. When he got to the sea he could see that Douglas was bent slightly, splashing Arthur vigorously, while Arthur squealed as the cold water fell on his body. Martin rugby tackled them both and was immensely pleased when they all crashed down into the water. When they emerged gasping and exhilarated he heard Arthur whisper,  
“I’ve always wanted to have fun in the sea with friends.”  
Martin knew exactly what he meant. 

 

***  
Dinner was a merry affair as even Douglas forgot his competitiveness with Herc and deigned to tell them all about the wild adventures of their youth. Carolyn was particularly interested with these stories, shaking head at their daft escapades and narrow escapes.   
“Nothing ever changes, does it?” Herc smiled at this and raised his glass.  
“I will drink to that!” 

The restaurant they were eating in sold cheap cocktails of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic variety, so all of the group were well catered for. There was a bit of a mix up when the cocktail Arthur ordered, including cherries, apricots and peach, was proven to be alcoholic. But after taking a cautious sip, he declared that he actually quite liked it, and it was really a shame to waste something with such pretty colours, so he carried on sipping. Even Douglas wasn’t too bitter that he wasn’t drinking alcohol, because it was much easier to pretend with these sorts of drinks, and soon they were all having a lovely time. Martin, after reflecting on their trip to Barcelona, decided that he wasn’t going to overdo it on the alcohol front lest he accidentally had another heart to heart with Arthur. They were all a bit wary about letting Arthur near alcohol after the Incident with the Peach Schnapps a couple of months ago, but he seemed to be jovial rather than absolutely mental. They stayed there until it got quite late, the stars bright in the velvety sky. After singing loudly with Douglas, Arthur had gone quiet, staring out of the restaurant with a contented smile on his face, and even though Carolyn was tipsy, Martin could see her looking at him with motherly responsibility.  
“Martin, is there any chance you could take Arthur back to the hotel room?”   
In the past, Martin might have complained about being treated as a personal carer, but now he willingly took Arthur’s arm gently and guided him out of the restaurant. He turned left to return to the hotel, but felt Arthur tugging him in the other direction.  
“Arthur, the hotel is this way.”  
“The sea, I just wanted to…the sky’s so lovely.”   
Martin tried to pull Arthur towards the hotel, but he was very insistent and he just didn’t have the strength to stop him. He had to content himself with putting an arm around Arthur’s shoulder to ensure that he didn’t stumble, and just hoped that he could get Arthur back to the hotel at some point. Arthur hummed as they walked through the calm road, and Martin didn’t talk, content to just be in Arthur’s company. As the night was very dark indeed, they heard the soft whooshing of the sea far before they could see the twinkling of the stars slightly reflected in the elusive waves. Arthur let out a soft sigh, and dropped onto the sand; Martin sat down with him. He saw Arthur lift his head towards the sky, as if drinking in the multitude of stars above.

“You okay, Arthur?”  
“Yes, Skip, oh I’ve never been better. Look at the stars, they’re so…so...”  
“Twinkly?”  
He heard a soft laugh.  
“Yes, twinkly. You know Skip, I think people are like stars. I mean, we don’t twinkle, but we all shine brighter with the one’s we’re closest to…you twinkle, Skip. You twinkle for me.”  
His words were jumbled, he was drunk; it was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to Martin.   
“You twinkle for me too, Arthur.” 

He felt Arthur lean back and move his head onto Martin’s lap. Oh, he was so close, if only he moved slightly. But he couldn’t, not while Arthur was drunk. He wouldn’t do that to him. He moved his hands through Arthur's hair, feeling the softness of his curls, and longing, longing. He had to tell Arthur of his feelings before the trip was out. He was finding it too hard to bear.   
“Do you want to know the reason why I went out with Minty?”  
The question was sudden and unwanted, but Martin was curious.  
“Yes.”  
It was strange, it seemed that when Arthur was drunk, his childlike attitude seemed to diminish and he became almost serious and definitely reflective.   
“Every person I have ever dated wants to change who I am. I always make mistakes no matter what I do. I’ve been told I’m too cuddly, too gullible, too needy, too stupid. Do you remember I told you once about when you are in the moonlight with your true love and you spend too much time worrying about when it’s going to end? Well, the people I date seem to be spending the time looking at me in embarrassment.”  
Martin choked at this confession.  
“Arthur, I-“  
“I know they do, Skip, I can see it.”  
Martin could see the tears shining in Arthur’s eyes, but his voice was strong and unwavering.  
“My Dad wanted me to ask out Minty, and she was so nice and lovely at first. But then I started to notice that she always presented me to people as Arthur Shappey, rich son of Gordon Shappey, rather than just Arthur.”   
Martin continued his stroking of Arthur’s hair, at a complete loss at what to say so Arthur carried on.  
“Douglas said I believe the best in people, and tried so hard with Minty. That is until I found her, I found her with one of my friends.”  
“Oh, Arthur that’s awful.”  
“But I-I couldn’t break up with her. “  
“But why not? She treated you horribly.” He felt Arthur take a deep breath.  
“I didn’t go out with Minty just because my Dad told me to.”  
This confused Martin.  
“What? I thought he made you-“  
“I had to because,” He paused as if fearing Martin’s reaction.  
“Before we went out she caught me kissing my best friend, Colin.”  
Martin had a horrible feeling that he knew where this was going.   
“She told my dad. He was, he was so angry.” He felt Arthur’s body wracking with sobs and brought his arms around him.  
“He told me that he would disown me if it turned out to be true, and I told him I didn’t care. I really didn’t. But then he said that if I was left with no money, Mum would get ill and die.”  
The hate Martin had felt against Gordon had always been strong, but he felt it rise within him, coupled with a deep and purveying sadness for the man he currently had his arms around.  
“Oh, Arthur, you shouldn’t have believed him.”  
“You don’t know him; my Dad has a way of saying things so you believe him. Anyway, he told me to prove that I wasn’t gay and, and…I had to go out with Minty, and all of the others. I never saw Colin again. It’s been so hard pretending.”   
Martin knew, he knew it so well.   
“My father was the same. Such a shame we both turned out to be such bloody disappointments, eh?” 

Arthur just sniffled, and Martin wondered how they both could have got such monsters for fathers. He thought that perhaps Arthur was feeling a bit exhausted after these confessions, so he started to shift as if he was going to get up, but he felt Arthur grip him tightly. He heard his desperate voice saying,  
“I’m sorry Skip, but could you, could you hold me for a little longer? No one ever holds me.”  
Choking back his own sob, Martin held Arthur even closer to his chest and they remained there for a very long time, the sound of the ocean softly rustling in the darkness and the stars shining unknowingly from above.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, never write fanfiction when slightly tipsy- you just end up writing the soppiest and saddest things XD  
> As always, I appreciate those reading this so much <3


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for this long chapter, I don't think I will be able to post the next installment until later tomorrow, sorry! In which the storm begins to rear its ugly head and sniff out lovely couples...

Martin woke the next morning to the sound of Arthur trying to sing quietly as he tiptoed around the room. Martin reflected that Arthur must be the only person in the entire world to not succumb to hangovers, if his merry dancing was anything to go by. Arthur spotted that Martin was awake.  
“Morning, Skip! Sorry if I was being noisy, I just can’t wait to have another super fun day!

Martin was glad that he seemed to have gotten over the sadness of the previous night, and resolved to give Arthur the best damn holiday he could manage. They began getting dressed, noticing that even though yesterday had been pretty warm a massive amount of heat was pervading the hotel room, warning them of a beautiful but very hot day. They made their way to the breakfast room of the hotel, spying the table containing the others. Carolyn and Herc looked rather bleary and Martin presumed that they had probably stayed out even later than he and Arthur, but Douglas of course looked bright and sprightly, fully aware of this fact.

“Morning you two, I must say I feel daisy fresh this fine morning.” Carolyn groaned and took a sip from a large cup of coffee in her hands. Herc looked at the two fondly.  
“Ah, I’m glad to see that you two made it back to the hotel last night. Carolyn was rather worried.”  
“Hmf. You would be worried if you had lost Arthur in as many places as I have; the supermarket, theme parks and even our own house even without the added challenge of him being drunk. “  
“No, Skip got me back safely. I had a really nice evening.” 

Herc looked at Martin hopefully, but no more information on this was forthcoming. It was a shame really; he could see how much they dearly cared for each other, even if everyone else was so slow to notice or admit it. But Herc was a patient man; after all, he had managed to woo Carolyn, although he was certain she would object to this way of putting it. Arthur looked over at the table holding all of the potential food with his usual eagerness.  
“Look, they have croissants! I thought Lanzarote was Spanish?”  
“Arthur, croissants can leave France you know. And now you’re thinking of croissants sailing here on ships, aren’t you?”  
“Yeah. WOW.”   
Douglas ruffled his hair affectionately.  
“Go and get your croissants, Arthur.” 

So Arthur skipped to the breakfast table, eyes shining with joy. Martin decided that he would get them a drink first, so moved to the far corner of the room which had containers of hot water to make tea and coffee with. As he waited for the cups to fill, he felt a movement behind him and turned to see the unwelcome figure of Minty, a dangerous expression on her face. He decided that it was past the time to be polite.

“Oh, it’s you. What the hell do you want?”   
She smiled a falsely sweet smile.  
“Little old me? I don’t want anything. I’m just terribly interested about your relationship with dear Arthur.”  
“I don’t care what you think you know, and it really isn’t any of your business. So back off.”   
Oh, he didn’t like the look in her eyes. Not one bit. She looked far too much like a predator honing in on its prey.  
“Oh, Arthur was such a good boyfriend, in all areas. Loving, thoughtful, eager to please. It’s a shame really that he’s such an idiot.”  
Martin would not stand here and take this, would not let this abhorrent woman dredge up Arthur’s terrible past and insult him. He had to grip his cup of tea firmly to stop himself from shaking.  
“I don’t care if you’re supposed to be our passenger, I’m going to say this only once; hurt Arthur again and I’ll rip your bloody head off.” She smiled so widely at this that he could see her sharp little teeth.  
“Are you threatening me, Captain?”  
“Just leave us alone.”  
“We’ll see about that.” She reached over and grabbed a carton of juice, whispering in Martin’s ear as she did so;  
“By the way, Gordon says hello.”

***  
Martin tried to hide his anxiety, but he knew he was doing a fairly poor job of it. Throughout his happy chatter with the others, he kept on seeing Arthur’s eyes flicker towards him with concern. This was no good, he was supposed to be ensuring that Arthur had a lovely holiday!

“Err, does anyone fancy having a walk around the town?”   
“Thanks for the offer, but Carolyn and I are taking a bus to go on a tour of one of the volcanos. I just know, somehow, someway she will find a sheep.”  
“I am rather good at finding them, aren’t if?”   
Herc politely invited them on the trip, but they could tell it was more of a date so they all decided they would go to the town together. Martin didn’t have much money on him of course, but he was well used to window shopping anyway and he knew that something as mundane as shopping could not possibly be boring when it included Douglas and Arthur. They finished of their breakfast and made arrangements to meet back at the hotel for dinner, then left to go and fetch their bags from their hotel rooms. When they got back in their room, Arthur looked at Martin and quickly said,  
“Are you ok, Skip? You looked a bit funny before.”  
Martin forced a false smile onto his face.  
“I’m fine! Just remembered something, but I’m alright now. Could you pass me the sun cream from that table?” Arthur didn’t look particularly convinced, but didn’t press him any further.   
They rejoined Douglas in the foyer, and he stood ready wearing sunglasses, which annoyed Martin because he always got teased if he put on shades. His annoyance was short lived, however when Douglas produced two more pairs and held them out.  
“I thought, considering we are all heading out as a kind of fun play group for pilots, we might as well look stylish.” Martin accepted his with good grace; it was a very bright day after all. Arthur loved his, as Douglas had got him a more novelty pair with small plastic pineapples and flamingos adorning the sides. He felt honoured that Douglas had included him as one of the ‘pilots’.

They had an excellent time; the town was small but had plentiful shops stocked with odd things aimed at tourists, and Arthur spirited a camera from somewhere and snapped pictures at every opportunity. Martin was reluctant to have photos snapped of him at first, but Douglas found it hilarious and kept dragging Martin by the arm to different places and striking a pose. Martin got his revenge by placing many novelty hats onto Douglas’s head, but Douglas of course had to turn this into a ‘who can find the best hat’ game. Martin was very pleased when he managed to find a fez, but then again Douglas’s multi-coloured giant sombrero was a sight to behold. They had to concede to Arthur, however, who managed to somehow locate a large and vibrant purple hat in the shape of an octopus. Douglas took the camera off of Arthur and snapped him in the utterly ridiculous hat, and Arthur drew Martin into the pictures, bringing him close towards him and smiling brighter than the sun itself. They didn’t buy anything, but Arthur said the pictures would be good enough for him and that he would print them all some when they got home. Although Martin didn’t care for photos of himself particularly, he thought that his flat would be improved drastically with photos of them all adorning his otherwise bare walls. Arthur brought some of the photos up on his camera, and they flicked through them laughing as they walked back through the town.

“I can’t wait to add them to the rest!” Douglas and Martin looked at him in surprise.  
“The rest? What do you mean?” at this, Arthur looked rather sheepish.  
“Oh, I usually snap some photos when we go on trips! I have them all in my room- I’ll have to show you some day!”   
The thought of Arthur taking the time and effort to take photos of them made Martin and Douglas feel slightly guilty. But then again, they supposed that Arthur was probably the best person to take photos as he wouldn’t care about what people actually looked like; he just cared about if they were enjoying it or not. They spent the rest of the afternoon frequenting the town and enjoying a delicious lunch in a little café, Arthur attempting to speak the few Spanish phrases that Douglas had attempted to teach him. Douglas had warned him that the town was probably catered to English tourists, and so he didn’t really need to try his Spanish out, but the waiters seemed to appreciate his efforts, dismal though they were. They smiled at his wild attempts and said that he was ‘muy bien’. This happened to be one of the few phrases Arthur could remember, so he beamed at them. The full force of an Arthur Shappey beam was very powerful; their food seemed to come in larger portions that they would have expected usually. Arthur tipped them when they left, and they began walking back to the hotel as it was fast becoming evening.

When they arrived back, they said goodbye to Douglas for the moment as they needed to get changed out of their day clothes as the evenings were definitely much cooler. Martin took off his shades reluctantly; he’d had a very, very fun time. Before they left the room, Arthur turned to Martin with a shy look on his face.  
“Oh I forgot to say- thank you for last night, Skip. I know I get a little fuzzy when drunk, but I’m still grateful.”   
“It was nothing.” 

They held each other’s gaze, and Martin remembered the feel of his arms around Arthur, the comfortable weight of his body and how it felt so right. He moved to open the door before he did something foolish. On the way down the corridor, they bumped into the small brunette from the hen do party. She looked at them both, twisting her lips nervously.  
“Oh, hi. I erm, I just wanted to…apologise about the way Minty’s been behaving.” Arthur squinted at her in slow recognition.  
“Eva, is that you? Gosh, you look so different!”   
“What? Arthur, you know her?”  
“Yeah, she’s Minty’s sister. You used to be blonde, I’m sure of it!” She smiled ruefully.  
“Yeah, I guess I was sick of being compared to my perfect sister. Arthur, be careful. You know Minty, she gets bored so easily and I think she’s trying to make Fredrick jealous so she can get something.”  
Arthur looked at her, concerned.  
“Why are you telling us this? Is there something else we should know about?”  
But Eva felt she had already said enough; she knew Minty’s wrath would be terrible if she found out she’d spoken to them.  
“I’m sorry- I really need to go. Just, be careful, yeah?”  
And she quickly left without a glance behind her. Martin and Arthur carried on their walk to the restaurant, unsure at what had just happened. 

***

Carolyn and Herc had had a marvelous time on their trip to the volcanic attraction, and Herc merrily recounted a tale in which Carolyn had scared away a swindling street peddler when he tried to get her to buy his goods.  
“…And I swear, the look she gave him could have given the volcano a run for its money.”  
“Well, he deserved it! Trying to swindle an innocent old lady.”  
Douglas snorted.  
“And what definition of ‘innocent’ are we using today?” 

She made to swat him, and he ducked away laughing. Once again, the meal was lovely even in the cheap restaurant surrounded by multitudes of chattering families, but then again they were a family of sorts. Martin was starting to feel very sad that they were leaving the next day, and although he knew how much work they would be doing in the future, he sorely hoped they could do this again. After all, what was the point of having an airdot if you couldn’t escape from the world once in a while?   
Arthur left to go to the toilet, and Martin didn’t pay much attention to this until he saw a tall figure follow Arthur out of the room. With a sinking feeling, he made his excuses and left the restaurant. He saw two shadowy figures at the end of the corridor. Of course it was her, having the nerve to wear her bride-to-be sash over a very short dress. He hovered in the shadows, listening to their conversation before he intervened. 

“Arthur, you need to stop lying to yourself. The time we had, it was so-“  
“Minty, please stop. Please, please stop. Think of Frederick-“  
She gave a harsh laugh.  
“Oh forget about him. He’s so cruel to me Arthur, nothing like you. He treats me like a pet.” She put her hand on his arm, but he shook it off with a desperate look.  
“Minty, please don’t make me be mean, but I don’t want to speak to you. You’re doing it again, trying to make me do what you want and I can’t, I just can’t-“  
She dropped her sweet act then, her voice icy and sharp.  
“If you don’t do what I say Arthur, it will be very, very bad for you.“  
She whispered something more to him that Martin couldn’t quite make out, and even from where he was stood Martin could make out Arthur’s shocked expression. He’d had enough.   
“Hey! Get away from him!” Martin had reached the two squashed into the corner and roughly grabbed Arthur.  
“I told you to leave him alone, why can’t you just go away? We don’t want you.”  
She stared down at them imperiously, looking at the protective way in which Martin was grabbing Arthur with a very, very nasty look indeed.  
“Remember what I said.”  
She left and Martin still refused to let go of Arthur.  
“Why does she keep appearing when we clearly don’t want to see her?”   
Arthur looked very disturbed.  
“I don’t know. I'm getting a really bad feeling Skip, please can we go back?”

They walked back into the restaurant, and Arthur’s mind was whirling, which was unusual because it usually danced happily from one idea to the next. Minty had whispered that she had something to tell him about his father, and as much as he didn’t want to confront her alone, he could tell by the tone of her voice that is was important. He wished Minty had never appeared, which made him feel awful because it was wrong to wish that about people. They returned very subdued, but the others were still having a lovely time so they hardly noticed. When they finished their meal, they decided to move to the chairs outside of the restaurant as the evening was balmy and pleasant and they could talk a bit more freely. They bought a bottle of wine and shared it between them, Douglas drinking a juice cocktail again, and they all felt a slight sadness that the holiday was almost over, even though no one actually said anything. They just sat chatting about nothing particular when Arthur’s phone rang, cutting through the air with a bright trill. Martin was engaged in a debate with Douglas about their favourite kind of aeroplane, so he wasn’t focused on Arthur when he muttered a quiet “Excuse me.” and shuffled away. When Arthur answered the phone, it was Minty on the other end; he didn’t know how she had gotten his number.

“Come to the trees buy the pool. Now.”   
Arthur walked with extreme trepidation to the allotted place, and saw Minty there, like a wolf that had just seen a small, foolish rabbit stumble into its lair.  
“I almost thought you would have brought that stupid Captain with you.”  
“Don’t talk about Martin like that.” She noted the use of Martin’s actual name, and the vehemence in which he said this.  
“God, you’ve got it bad. Wonder what your Dad would say about you being a little queer, eh?”  
Arthur looked at her in desperation.  
“Minty, I’ve done nothing to you. Why are you doing this to me?”   
Her expression turned sour.  
“When you broke up with me, everyone said I was a cheat. No one would trust me.”  
“But, but you did cheat.” Arthur pointed out fairly.  
“I don’t care what people thought, but when I finally started dating Frederick he keeps such a close eye on me. I know he has other women; why should I miss out on the fun?”  
Arthur looked at her with complete disgust.  
“Then just don’t marry him then. Find someone else.” She looked at him with a withering pity.  
“Frederick’s rich, you idiot. Rich and I can make my way up in the world when I’m his wife. But this isn’t just about revenge, though I am enjoying that part. No. this is about Gordon.”   
She watched with satisfaction as Arthur’s face drained of colour at the mention of his father.  
“My Dad? What, why-“  
“Gordon was very upset about what happened at St Petersburg, Arthur. Told me all about it. About how you tricked him-“  
“He tried to steal G-ERTI!”  
“His plane, trying to take his plane back from your thieving mother! He told me if I flew MJN Air and managed to find out any information on the crew, well, he would reward me handsomely.” She turned to where Martin was sat in the distance and chuckled menacingly.  
“And what I have found out! Gordon Shappey’s son falling in love with the stupid Captain that made a fool of him. Why, I’ll even have a hold on Gordon for this; he won’t want it getting out.”   
“Minty, what do you want? I’ll give you what you want, just don’t let my dad hurt anyone, please.”  
She loved his begging, he could tell. He had no idea how he had managed to be in a relationship with this horrible woman for so long.  
“I want you to kiss me, so everyone can see and tell Frederick and he’ll get so angry that he’ll stop being so boring and will treat me with special care. You might save me from a dull marriage Arthur, it’s a noble thing. And also, your Dad will think you have the hots for me rather than that skinny twit.”   
Arthur stood in shocked silence. He couldn’t kiss her; he couldn’t kiss someone who was just about to get married, someone who wasn’t his Skip. He didn’t even try to push that thought away, he didn’t want to.   
“I-I can’t do that.”  
His voice was wobbling, but he stood with a Carolyn like stubbornness on his face. Minty nodded as if she expected it.  
“If you don’t do what I say, I’ll tell your father all about your dirty little crush. He beat you up pretty bad last time, huh? “   
Arthur tried not to remember. He didn’t want to recall the flying fists and cutting, terrible words.   
“Minty, please.”  
“And it’s not even you that you should be worried about. I would be more worried about Martin to be honest.”   
This confused Arthur, and he asked with dread,  
“What? What’s Martin got to do, he hasn’t done anything-“  
“If I tell your father about this, do you know what he’s going to do with Martin?”  
Arthur shook his head fearfully, hardly daring to speak, and Minty advanced until she was face to face with him, her voice a terrible hiss.  
“He’s going to fucking destroy him.”  
“No, please-“  
Minty ignored his whimpers.  
”I’m sure he can think of ways of getting his flying license removed faster than you could think. Well, far faster than you could think, for sure. Then, MJN would fold and your mess of a company would be all gone. And I’ve heard all about Martin- if he can’t fly, well, what will he have to live for?”  
Arthur could not bear it, could not handle the threats. He looked at her in a final desperation.  
“Minty please, please-“  
“It’s simple. Do as I say.”  
“I can’t!”   
“I’m giving you a choice, Arthur. If you agree to help, then I’ll make it worth your while. If you don’t, I’m just going to do it anyway, but make sure you all suffer.”   
Arthur couldn’t kiss her, and was beginning to become so frightened at the choices he had to make that he tried to run away. Minty grabbed him and he heard her mutter.  
“Wrong choice.”

She forced his head to hers and kissed him violently.

Arthur realised far too late that Minty intended to follow through with her plan anyway, and he didn’t realise that they had been stood so close to the hen do party, who had been having late night shots on the abandoned sun loungers. They hadn’t heard Minty and Arthur’s conversation, but they did see the two stumble out from the bush kissing. Suddenly, Minty drew away from Arthur and said in a falsely shocked voice.  
“He kissed me! He forced me to kiss him! Oh, what would Frederick say?” 

She pretended to sob, and one of her friends went to console her. The rest of the party moved towards Arthur angrily, with the exception of Eva who remained on her chair, sadly shaking her head and seeing right through her cruel sister’s crocodile tears. Arthur was trying to back away, a look of absolute fright on his face at the figures descending on him, but he was unable to run away. Minty’s mother in law screeched,  
“How dare you kiss my son’s fiancée! You’ve been trying to take advantage of her the whole holiday!”  
“N-no, no-“  
“Shut up! I’ll have you fired, I’ll, I’ll….” And the angry tirade continued from all angles.   
Back outside the restaurant, Martin wondered why Arthur was taking so long. Then, they all heard a commotion by the pool and twisted round to see. From the distance they were at, they could make out a shadow being slowly surrounded by many shouting others. Martin squinted.  
“Is that, is that Arthur?” They all leapt up from their seats immediately and ran over, in time to see Arthur trying to escape the clutches of the women, but being dragged and slapped back into the fray. Carolyn, her eyes burning with rage shouted,  
“Get your hands off my son!” She pushed all of the women off him with the strength of a speeding bull and Arthur fell into Martin’s waiting arms, sobbing hysterically. Frederick’s mother sneered at them all.  
“Don’t get angry at us! He kissed Madeline!” The crew swivelled round to look at Arthur in horror. Martin was utterly confused, and started to feel very, very sick. He looked at Arthur weakly.  
“Did you?”   
“Yes, I mean, she kissed me and I couldn’t-“  
The old lady was outraged.  
“Don’t be stupid! Why on earth would she want to kiss you?”  
But Martin saw the utter despair on Arthur’s face and knew that he must be telling the truth. Arthur couldn’t lie, not even to save his own skin.   
“I believe Arthur. Minty’s been throwing herself on him at every opportunity, if you haven’t noticed.”   
Minty’s mother, Marge, heard this and descended on Martin.  
“How DARE you accuse my daughter of cheating on her husband deliberately, the nerve!” 

Carolyn could tell that this was only going to get worse, so she decided they should all go back to the hotel, and fast. She dreaded the flight tomorrow, but no way in hell was she going to offer any sort of refund or consolation. She knew that Arthur would never try and cause that much upset; it was entirely against his nature.  
“If you have quite finished shouting at my company, I think we shall leave.”  
“I will be having words with you tomorrow, Carolyn.”   
Douglas gave a bark of laughter and they knew why; ‘words’ with Carolyn wasn’t something to enter into lightly. Before they left, Douglas couldn’t resist turning round and saying to the furious party,  
“It takes two to tango, you know.” 

That left the ladies apoplectic with rage, but they hurried on swiftly. Arthur was still sobbing, being half carried by Martin and Douglas, and Carolyn looked at him sadly.  
“Oh Arthur, why did you meet her alone?”   
But he wouldn’t say anything. He couldn’t; he knew Minty was going to tell Gordon what she suspected about him and Martin, whatever that was, and he knew Gordon’s wrath would be terrible. He had caused it, and he felt he deserved to suffer in silence. They all piled into Martin and Arthur’s room and put Arthur on the bed, watching helplessly as he faced the wall and curled into a ball. Herc’s voice was soft, understanding.  
“Arthur, we are not annoyed with you. We know Minty was up to something.”  
Silence. Douglas tried.  
“We truly aren’t angry at you Arthur. She was manipulating you.”   
Silence. There was nothing more they could do, and Carolyn asked them all to reconvene in her room, Martin included. He cast a hopeless glance at Arthur, but he remained motionless.  
In Carolyn’s room, they could all see her shaking in anger.  
“I knew I would regret taking that witch, I knew it.” Herc rested a hand on her shoulder gently.  
“Don’t blame yourself. None of us knew she would take advantage of Arthur.”  
Martin thought he heard an odd clicking noise, but it was drowned out by Douglas growling,  
“Why would she kiss him? What would she gain?”   
“Just to wreak havoc, I suppose. Goodness knows Arthur is an easy target, and I seem to remember their breakup being messy; perhaps she thought it would be a silly revenge?” 

They were all silent for a moment, contemplating this. Martin’s head was in turmoil; the thought of Minty laying her hands on Arthur made him so extraordinarily angry that he stayed silent to stop himself from raging and going to track her down. Poor, poor used Arthur. He looked so frightened as the ladies slapped and shouted at him. He decided he should go back and he turned to click the door open, and frowned as the sound mirrored the one he’d heard just seconds ago. He realised with dawning horror that Arthur must have left the room.  
“Oh God, oh God!” Everyone turned round at his panicked shout.  
“What? What’s wrong?”   
“I think Arthur’s left the room!” This had an immediate effect on the group- they all jumped towards the door and filled the corridor, looking in every direction. Carolyn moaned,  
“Silly boy, he has a terrible sense of direction, especially at night! We’ll never find him.” 

Martin wracked his brain furiously, trying to think where Arthur would have gone. He would have steered clear of the pool, obviously and he didn’t think he would risk getting lost in the town this late at night. Suddenly, he thought of last night and the image of him and Arthur lay on the beach filled his mind.  
“I think I know where he’s gone! But, maybe I should go alone; he won’t want to be overcrowded.” Carolyn began to protest, but Herc saw the look in Martin’s eye. It was wild and so deeply full of love. Herc knew that he would smash his way through the hotel doors if he had to.  
“Let him, Carolyn. Arthur is probably embarrassed; we can just wait until he comes back.” Carolyn nodded and sat onto her bed in exhaustion. Douglas looked at Martin.  
“Make sure he’s safe.” Martin nodded and raced down the corridor, his heart full of dread.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the offensive words, Minty is a right cow! Well, the cat's out of the bag now, and Gordon is a very large and sly cat...


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this being quite short, but I felt that it should be in its own chapter :) As always, thank you for taking your time to read this, it means a lot! I've been waiting to write this bit for a long time...

“And take a little walk when the worst is to come  
When I saw you looking like I never thought  
And say you're at a loss or forgot that words can do more than harm.”  
\- Detlef Schrempf, Band of Horses.

 

When Martin came in sight of the beach, he saw Arthur huddled on the sand close to where they had been the night before, and was momentarily pleased by the fact that he had managed to guess where Arthur would be. His pleasure was sadly short lived as he regarded the depressed figure of Arthur all alone in the dark and he felt like his heart would burst as he could hear little sobs, even from this distance. He drew closer to where Arthur was sat, and even though he didn’t bring his head up from where it rested on his knees, he knew Arthur had heard him approach. 

“W-why do I always r-ruin everything?”   
It was the saddest, most heart-breaking voice Martin had ever heard Arthur use. He stood behind Arthur and put a hand on his shoulder.  
“Arthur, listen to me. It is impossible for you to ruin anything. Whenever you are there, anything is improved beyond recognition.”   
There was a little pause and Arthur lifted his head. Martin saw that the fallen tears had made shining tracks over his cheeks, which were still red from the slaps he had received.   
“You’re just saying that because you feel s-sorry for me.”  
“No! Of course I don’t!”

Arthur’s voice suddenly became angry, which was most unlike him. His voice echoed around the empty beach, overtaking the soft whoosh of the sea.  
“Yes you do! I see it in your eyes, in everyone’s eyes. Everyone knows I'm going to mess up eventually. I don’t deserve MJN. I don’t deserve anything.”   
Martin knelt down onto the sand and took Arthur’s face into his hands, forcing him too look directly at him.  
“Arthur Shappey, I don’t feel sorry for you because I care about you more than I care about anyone else in the entire world.”   
Arthur’s eyes were a truly beautiful shade of green, and Martin felt like he never wanted to look away. He saw them widen and heard a whisper.  
“I don’t deserve you.”  
Martin couldn’t bear it, couldn’t bear that the sweetest, most genuine man in the world thought he didn’t deserve his pathetic love. To hell with what the world thought, to hell with anyone else. Martin knew exactly what he wanted and he was sat right in front of him. 

He leaned forward and kissed him. 

The kiss was everything that Minty’s wasn’t; it was hesitant and sweet and entirely perfect. He felt Arthur gasp, then press his lips more firmly to Martin’s, taking his hands from around his knees and bringing them onto Martin’s waist. Martin moved from his kneeling position and pressed Arthur gently onto the sand, not breaking the kiss and lying comfortably on the steward’s body. They remained that way for a very long time, kissing and holding each other, not wanting to stop and break the spell. After a while, Martin curled around Arthur’s body with his head in his lap and they both looked up at the stars, Arthur stroking Martin’s ginger hair with one hand, and holding Martin’s hand with the other. Martin felt so happy, more than happy, utterly content as he lay there. Arthur thought of all of the things he loved, tossing apples, getting in a hot bath, bears, and nothing even came close to what he was feeling now. He tried to ignore the ominous words of Minty, but they rang in his ears. He decided that no matter what happened in the future, he would enjoy this moment. He pointed at the sky; two stars were fairly close together, twinkling merrily.  
“Look, Skip, it’s us!”   
Martin smiled, and Arthur couldn’t help staring at his beautiful cupid’s bow lips, lips that he had finally got to kiss after so long. Martin spoke, staring wistfully at the heavens.  
“I wish we could stay here forever.” 

Arthur knew exactly what he meant; being sat on the soft sand in the moonlight with the person he cared for most in the world was going to be hard to leave, but he knew that he would be happy wherever he was, as long as he was with Martin. He never wanted to leave his side, but he had Minty’s words ringing in his ears: “if he can’t fly, well, what will he have to live for?”  
He suddenly felt very afraid, and gripped Martin’s hand tightly.  
“Don’t leave me.”   
Martin looked at him curiously and placed a tender kiss onto his nose to make him smile.  
“I’m not planning to. Not now, not ever.”   
They couldn’t see her, so wrapped up in each others embrace were they, but a dark figure stood hiding in the shadows on the path just outside of the beach. She sneered at the two figures holding each other in the distance and brought out her phone.  
“Gordon Shappey? Yeah, I’ve got some very interesting news...”

 

They decided that it was probably time to return to the hotel, and when they got back they saw Douglas, Carolyn and Herc reclining tiredly on the chairs outside of the restaurant. They all sat up anxiously as they saw the two approach, and their faces filled with wonder as they saw Arthur with a face of pure contentment rather than sadness. Eventually, Douglas spoke.  
“Goodness, someone has cheered up!”   
Arthur beamed at him, and Martin spoke quickly in case he revealed any of the evening to them; he didn’t think they were quite ready to hear about it yet.   
“It’s late, I think we’re going to go to bed now.”

Arthur went over to give his mum a hug, and was surprised when she squeezed him with vigour. Whilst they were hugging, Herc shot Martin a glance and Martin gave him an ear-splitting smile, which Herc returned. It seemed like Martin going after Arthur had been a very good idea after all. They made their goodbyes and went into their room. They didn’t bother with going into the bathroom to get changed now; they both just got into their night clothes quickly and brushed their teeth together. And this night, they both slept in the same bed, Arthur embracing the smaller Martin in his arms and hoping, hoping it would last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I've hit the 30,000+ word mark, still got a little bit to go yet, if all goes to plan! The lyrics at the start of this chapter are from the song that gave the fic its title, and it's one of my favourite songs. I will be adding more of the lyrics in appropriate chapters! :D


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! I've never tried to write a romance before (kissing-eek!) so I hope it was ok :)

If anyone had walked into that hotel room the next morning, they would have been struck by the utter contentment of the two men that lay on the small bed together. They fitted together like a lost jigsaw piece; Arthur who had so much love to offer but no one to share it with, and Martin who craved love but had no one to love him. It was inevitable, then, that they should find a kindred spirit in each other, a slow burning realisation of their true affections. Arthur woke up first to find Martin’s legs entwined with his own, his head snuggled onto Arthur’s chest. In sleep, Martins anxiety’s and eagerness to prove that he was worthy were gone, replaced by a calm sweetness that made Arthur want to stare at him for eternity. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Minty contacted his father and was awaiting the phone call he knew would come and shatter his newfound hopes and dreams. He wanted to enjoy this little piece of heaven before it was cruelly snatched away and he hated himself for pretending to offer Martin something he would be prevented from giving. Yes, Arthur, the man who loved anything and everything, hated himself in that moment, and thought he wasn’t good enough for the broken man in his embrace. He didn’t deserve to look upon Martin’s beautiful face, so he leaned down and pressed a tender kiss onto his lips to wake him up.   
Ah, to be kissed awake. Martin had only dreamt of such things, and to wake up and see the adorable face of Arthur staring down at him benevolently was making this the best waking-up he had ever experienced.

“Good morning to you too, Arthur.” 

He deepened the kiss, And Arthur was unwilling and unable to pull himself away and stop his selfishness. They lay there for a while, basking in the warm rays peeking through the window, until they heard a soft knock on their door and Douglas’s booming voice.

“Oi, you two! Our mighty Overlord just told me that if you two don’t come down for breakfast this minute she’ll put you both in maid’s outfits and make you serve the passengers.”   
They broke apart reluctantly, Martin calling out,  
“Carolyn’s never seen me in a dress- it’ll be more of a treat than a punishment.”  
As Arthur tried to stifle his giggles at the image of Martin in a red cocktail dress, they heard Douglas chuckling on the other side of the door and hear him call out just before he left,  
“You have many secrets, Captain Martine!”  
They began to get dressed, this time putting on their respective work outfits as the flight was an early afternoon one. Martin noticed that Arthur began to get more and more nervous as he put his steward’s uniform on, and went over in time to do up the buttons on his waistcoat for him.  
“You’ll be fine on the flight, Arthur. We’ll keep you away from those horrible women, and if anyone even tries to be nasty to you they’ll have to deal with me.”  
Now, the image of the short and blustery Martin wasn’t usually a particularly threatening one, but Martin’s expression turned murderous, and Arthur knew how much Skip stood up for what he believed in.   
“Thank you, Skip. I just feel bad for making Mum have to deal with them.”  
“I’m sure Carolyn will survive. They aren’t a match for her, believe me.” 

He finished buttoning the last one, and stood on his tiptoes to give Arthur a quick kiss. Martin may be frustrated with his height, but Arthur rather enjoyed his Skip being small. He beamed at Martin, and they made their way to the breakfast room seeing Carolyn, Herc and Douglas already gathered round a table.

“I am disgusted to find out that the pilot laziness that this company has suffered from has been transferred to you too, Arthur.”  
Herc tried to be fair.  
“Oh Carolyn, it’s been a tough night.”  
“Even so, I want this flight home to run as smoothly as it possibly can, woefully stupid though that hope is.”  
Arthur looked at his Mum with a guilty expression, as if ashamed at what he was going to say next.  
“Mum, you don’t have to let me if you don’t want to, but can I not, can I not serve the customers on this flight please?” He recoiled at expected anger, but Carolyn just looked at him sadly. She knew how much Arthur loved his job.  
“Of course I’m not going to let you serve those monsters. I shall be offering them my very best service. You will hide in the flight deck with Martin and Douglas.”  
Martin’s heart leapt, but Douglas’s voice held a tone of warning.  
“Carolyn-“  
“I’ll make sure he won’t disturb you.”  
“No, I have no problem about Arthur being in the flight deck, I just hope he’s not going to get bored.”  
“Oh no, Douglas! I’ll never be bored because-because-“  
He cast his eyes wildly, trying his best not to say something revealing about Martin.  
“Because I’m never bored when I’m with you guys.”  
This made them all smile and Herc cleared his throat.  
“You know what? I think I shall help you do the stewarding today, Carolyn. I will also offer my,” He made his voice even deeper and silkier.  
“Very best services.”

“They won’t stand a chance.”

***  
They ushered Arthur onto the plane before they let on the other passengers so that they didn’t spot him and try to cause any trouble, and Martin and Douglas settled comfortably with him. Martin could see that Arthur was still nervous and dearly wanted to take his hand, but resisted the urge even though it made him feel useless. Eventually, they heard the plane being boarded by the loud group who still seemed to be in high spirits despite the events of the night before and soon enough it was time to lift off. Arthur watched the take-off checks with interest; he had obviously heard them before but he rarely got to be there when they went through the whole process. Douglas even let him call the ATC and they could tell that the man on the other end was shocked but nevertheless pleased by Arthur’s enthusiasm. Arthur being in the flight deck was surprisingly fun as even though he was trying his best not to distract them, it was always going to be difficult to compress such a bundle of energy into such a small room. After a while, Arthur confessed that he had always wanted to but never really been dancing with anyone, Douglas shot out of his seat and immediately insisted on showing him some steps. Martin couldn’t resist rolling his eyes at the typical reveal that Douglas’s seemingly limitless skills included that he was a fine dancer, but watched with interest, still keeping an eye on the flying. Douglas put one of Arthur’s hands on his waist and took the other, and Martin would have felt a pang of jealousy but he knew Douglas was being entirely innocent. He watched as Douglas spun Arthur round the small space, all of them laughing as Arthur proved to be surprisingly graceful. They danced round the flight deck, Douglas humming one of his show tunes. Eventually, Douglas twirled Arthur around and let go of him, turning to Martin.

“It’s your turn now, Captain.”   
Martin spluttered,  
“What? I can’t dance, I’m too short-“ But Douglas hauled him out of his seat and plonked himself in it, idly watching the controls.  
“I have passed on my wisdom. I shall watch and weep at the beauty of my labours.”

Martin tried to scowl at him, but Arthur grabbed his hand and his waist, bringing him closer towards him. Of course, Martin thought he was terrible at it, but Arthur easily guided him round and soon they settled into a comfortable slow dance. Douglas looked at them with a peculiar expression. Now he thought about it, they did look rather well suited in an odd sort of way. Perhaps-   
His thoughts were interrupted as Carolyn flung open the doors and looked at Martin and Arthur in confusion before they sprung apart.  
“Were you two…dancing?”  
“It truly was beautiful Carolyn. Maybe we should begin an inflight dancing service. I shall choreograph and Arthur can make the costumes. Martin can serve refreshments.”  
“Hey!”  
“I’m not even going to ask. I just came in to ask Arthur which coffee he usually uses- the normal one or the fancy pack I found hidden in the bottom cupboard?”  
Arthur blushed and they all turned to look at him. Martin remembered the delicious coffee Arthur had brought him with fondness.  
“Err well, you can use it as it’s my special pack for special people and you are in my list of special people Mum!”   
“Golly, I wondered why the coffee had been so good recently. I’m honoured to be one of your special people, Arthur.”   
“Shut up, Douglas. Arthur, there is no need to spend your money on coffee when we have perfectly acceptable coffee here. “  
“Acceptable is one word for it.”  
“Shut up!”  
“I know, I just fancied a change-“  
“You don’t drink coffee.”  
“Err...” She could tell Arthur was hiding something, but after spending the day worrying about the passengers, she just couldn’t be bothered to press him.  
“Oh, never mind. I’ll just use the bog standard coffee for the passengers. Herc and I shall have some of the nice kind, if we are definitely on your special list?”  
“Oh, of course! You, and Herc and Douglas and Skip!”   
Douglas sounded mock offended.  
“I hope it’s not in that order.”  
This made Arthur blush, though Douglas had no idea why. 

***  
For Carolyn, the flight had been alright so far. They had not been particularly polite to her, the passengers, but to be fair neither had she. They seemed to be at a sort of stalemate, both sides wordlessly conveying that they knew who the real villain was. Carolyn was secretly very glad that Herc had decided to help her, as it was extraordinarily difficult to resist him when he was blasting his full charm. It almost made her laugh when she saw him being overly polite to everyone, but when he interacted with Minty he said the bare minimum, which riled her because she knew how important he was. But she couldn’t do anything to tarnish her ‘oh I'm so innocent’ repertoire, so she could only stare at them both in cold fury.   
Later on, she went to go to the toilet, and when she left she saw Herc standing outside of the door, waiting for her.  
“What the hell do you want?” She spat. Herc smiled a grim smile.  
“I didn’t realise when you mentioned him before that your fiancé was Frederick Hornstone. Interesting chap.”  
She felt cold.  
“What? How do you know Frederick?”  
“Let’s just say, his reputation precedes him. I know all about his secret ex-wife and child in Chicago; rather hush-hush, wasn’t it?”  
“How dare-“  
“Oh, I won’t presume to know anything. Just to clarify, she is his ex-wife, isn’t she? I don’t remember him mentioning the divorce last time I saw him at the bar, though he was rather drunk at the time.”  
Minty felt absolutely furious at this mysterious man and his knowledge of her.   
“Of course she’s his ex, why wouldn’t she be?” But she stopped, and Herc knew he had sown the seed of doubt in her mind.  
“No reason.”  
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter; he doesn’t even see her anymore.”  
“Are you sure about that? Ever wonder why he sent you to a hell hole in Lanzarote rather than his plush holiday home in Chicago? Oops, or did you not know about that?”  
She was rigid with shock as she processed this information. Herc smiled at her sweetly.  
“Dear me, it’s not good to start a marriage with secrets- goodness knows I know that. All the same…enjoy the marriage.” And with that he went to rejoin Carolyn, leaving a fuming Minty stood there feeling stupid and cheated. 

***

Carolyn noticed that Minty had been somewhat subdued throughout the rest of the journey, and she hoped she wasn’t up to trouble. But nothing eventful happened, except for when Minty left G-ERTI and saw Arthur peer round the flight deck door to see if she had gone, she gave him a rather nasty smile. After this, she caught Herc’s eye and retreated fast. They were glad to see the back of her and the whole party, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when they had all disembarked. Martin noticed that Arthur somehow looked even more worried after they had gone, and wondered why considering the threat had passed. Arthur announced he was going to hoover the plane and meet Carolyn after she had sorted some paperwork; Herc followed Carolyn with a wave to Martin and Douglas departed after saying goodbye. Martin hung around, for some reason feeling slightly awkward. He saw Arthur reach for the hoover, then drop it on the floor nervously. He went over and picked it up for him.

“You ok, Arthur? You seem a bit…weird. Minty didn’t say anything to you, did she?”   
Arthur’s voice was falsely bright.  
“Minty? Oh no, she didn’t say anything, I mean she looked at me a bit scarily and you know it made me feel a bit-“  
Arthur’s voice was interrupted by the sudden buzz of his phone in his pocket. He looked down in fright as if it was going to bite him, which worried Martin.  
“Don’t answer it. It’s probably her anyway. Promise me, promise me you won’t let her lure you away again?”   
“…Yeah, ok. I should probably, you know, get this done before Mum gets annoyed.” 

Arthur let the phone ring out, and Martin just could not work out why he seemed so sad. He felt slightly hurt that he wanted to do the hoovering rather than talking to him, but thought that maybe he just needed some time alone to recover from the tiring events of the holiday. He turned to say bye and was shocked when Arthur grabbed him and pressed a desperate kiss to his lips. It was unlike the others; Martin still enjoyed it but it was somehow tinged with a hint of sadness, as if Arthur was making the most of it. Eventually, Martin drew away and looked into Arthur’s troubled eyes.  
“See you tomorrow, yeah?”  
“Ok. Yes. I will. See you tomorrow, I mean.”  
Martin left, still feeling troubled but trying to push it out of his mind. When Arthur was sure he was gone, he took a deep breath and pulled out his phone. He dialled a number and waited.  
“Hi Dad, it’s Arthur.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a comeuppance for Minty then, what a horrible woman! But uh oh, is that Gordon in the distance? :O


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the chapter I have been working towards without really knowing how I was going to get here! I've really been enjoying writing, and now the storm has hit!

Martin woke up for work the next day with the oddest feeling in his stomach. He tried to tell himself not to be so foolish, that Arthur was a grown man, but he had tried to ring him twice last night and had received no answer. That was most unlike Arthur, who loved chatting on phones no matter where he was or who the person was. Martin felt slightly hurt that he didn’t want to speak with him, and decided he would ask him what was wrong as soon as he got in, no more mystery and confusion. He got dressed and made his way to the airfield in trepidation and his heart sank when he saw that there was only Carolyn there. She looked up expectantly when Martin walked in, then he saw her frown as she registered that he was alone.

“Martin, is Arthur not with you?”   
Martin felt cold and spoke in a nervous voice.   
“No, should he have been?”  
Carolyn looked extremely worried at this.  
“He didn’t come home last night; I thought he must have gone to yours again. Maybe-“   
They both jumped as the door opened and Douglas strode into the airfield, also alone.  
“Douglas, have you seen Arthur?”   
“No, has he not come with one of you?”  
“Why would I be asking if that- oh it doesn’t matter. Where on earth could he be? I was worried when he didn’t ring me to tell me where he was but God knows how absentminded he can be.” 

Martin could not think where Arthur could have gone, if he hadn’t had gone to any of their houses. He could only think of Minty, but surely Arthur wouldn’t have ignored his warnings?  
“So none of us saw him leave the airfield. What if he left with-?”

He stopped talking as they all heard the door click open. Arthur walked through it slowly, not looking at anyone and with his face downcast. It was obvious that his usually exuberant demeanour was absent, and this cast worry into the hearts of the rest of the crew. There was no excited hello that Arthur usually belted; he walked past them all towards G-ERTI without acknowledging anyone and without turning round.  
“Arthur, are you ok?” Carolyn called out anxiously.   
A hollow and expressionless voice returned, so unlike Arthur.  
“Everything’s…fine. I’ve just got some cleaning to do.”   
They watched wordlessly as he climbed up the stairs to get into the aeroplane, unable to register what was going on. Martin decided that whatever had happened must be very, very bad to have caused Arthur such an upset, and although he knew Carolyn and Douglas were keen to see what was wrong, he thought that perhaps he should go and comfort the steward by himself.  
“I’m going to find out what the hell is going on.”  
“I really think I should-“  
“No.”   
They both looked at him in surprise at his vehemence, and he tried his best to recover.  
“When I found him the other night, he told me about some things. I think this might be what it’s about. “  
Carolyn looked ready to argue, but decided with a heavy heart that Martin’s words were sensible. Douglas put a hand on his arm and looked at him seriously.  
“Don’t be too long.” Martin nodded and made his way up the stairs nervously.   
When he entered the plane and sought out Arthur, he saw a figure curled up on one of the seats and facing the wall.   
“Arthur?”  
No answer, not that he expected any. He went over to Arthur and placed a hand on his shoulder, and to his surprise he shrunk away rather than leaned into his touch as he had expected. He was feeling extremely worried now; Arthur never ever threw off affection. He could hear his voice cracking.  
“Arthur, please speak to me. You’re scaring me.”  
Martin had never known Arthur to be so silent; he always answered whatever people asked, and this statue like version of Arthur really did frighten him. He tried one last attempt.  
“Please look at me.”

He heard a heavy sigh, followed by Arthur shifting his body towards him. He was still looking down, but when he finally looked up at Martin and he could see his face properly, Martin gasped and had to grip the seat in front of him with one hand. Arthur’s sweet, open face was marred by a blossoming black eye, the ugly purple bruise in stark contrast with his sickly pale face. When Martin noticed that his sweet lips split were split open by a cut, he reached his hand out as if to stroke his face, but Arthur recoiled.  
“Who, who did this to you?” He saw Arthur close his eyes; a single tear rolled down his cheek. Martin heard the whispered, barely audible,  
“My Dad.”  
It was as if time had stopped. Martin was utterly confused, utterly angry. Why was Gordon in England? Why on earth had Arthur gone to see him?  
“Why would your dad do this to you?”  
But all of a sudden, he remembered Minty’s nasty grin to Arthur and knew that she must have gone scurrying to Gordon at the first opportunity to tell him God knows what.  
“He found out about us.”  
Hot guilt erupted in Martin’s stomach as he contemplated the horrible fact that it was his fault that Arthur was in this state. He shouldn’t have been so selfish; Arthur didn’t deserve to get hurt. Martin resolved to never, ever let Gordon near Arthur again as he stared at his poor injured face and he burned to kiss his injuries better. He knew Carolyn would be inconsolable.  
“Oh, Arthur, I’m so sorry. But I can’t believe that bastard would do that to you. What…what did he say?”  
Immediately, Martin cringed. How stupid! The black eye Arthur was currently sporting screamed Gordon’s opinion on the matter. However, Arthur seemed to dismiss the stupidity of this statement. He seemed to gather himself, and Martin noticed that he had a most peculiar expression that he couldn’t quite place.

“He told me not to see you again.”   
Well, that was to be expected. Martin let out a long sigh and ran his hand absentmindedly through his hair in agitation.  
“Well, I thought he might have said that-“  
“I told him I wouldn’t.”

The silence after this statement felt infinite. The clock ticked, a bird outside called out a trilling tune, yet all Martin could do was stare at the stony faced steward in disbelief. This was not Arthur. This was not Arthur.  
“Arthur? I don’t understand.”   
He locked eyes with Arthur in disbelief; his previous odd expression had given way to an oddly twisted and cold one which looked strangely familiar. He looked like Gordon.  
“Martin, I don’t want to see you.” 

Martin wanted to say something, say anything to combat this awful statement, yet his head was filled with one terrible and repeating fact: Arthur Shappey cannot lie. Had their time together meant nothing? Had the kisses, the touches, the adoration, been nothing? Martin looked up with final desperation, trying to quell a choking sob.  
“You can’t mean that.”  
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”

These cruel words cut through Martin like a knife; he didn’t think Arthur, the man who sang when people were sad, the man who tried to rescue road kill when there was no hope, was able to be cruel. Martin couldn’t bear it; he left the cold man with a sob and ran out of the plane. If Martin had turned round just before he left, he would have seen a desperate look flash among Arthur’s face before he replaced it with one of indifference. If only. 

Carolyn and Douglas were still stood where they had been left on the airfield and looked utterly confused as they made out Martin’s crying form. They knew Martin was a proud man, and he wasn’t even trying to hide his distress from them so they knew something terrible must have happened. They strode up to him and Douglas put his arm around the shaking Captain’s shaking shoulders.  
“Martin, what on earth is wrong?  
But Martin couldn’t speak, just pressed his face into Douglas’s shoulder and Douglas didn’t tease him or try to stop him. He rubbed Martin’s back and tried to soothe him, Carolyn looking on uselessly. Eventually, Martin brought his head up and said in a shaking voice  
“He said he doesn’t want to see me.”  
Of course, Martin meant this in the relationship sense, so the impact of this was somewhat lost on the other two, but they thought it was very strange indeed that Arthur should say such a harsh thing.   
“But, why would he say something like that?”   
But Carolyn had had enough. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and shouted,   
“Arthur Shappey, come down this instant and tell us what the hell is going on!” 

None of them thought this would actually work, but soon enough they saw him emerge from the aircraft. He went halfway down the steps and stayed where he was, looking at the three stood below him. Carolyn went white with fury when she saw his black eye and Douglas actually swore; Martin couldn’t bring himself to look at him, so stared at the ground.  
“Arthur who did that to you?”   
He stared at her in stony silence, so Martin was forced to speak up.  
“It was Gordon.”  
Carolyn’s expression was absolutely murderous and they actually had to take a step back because of the volume of her bellowed,  
“WHAT? But, how, why?”   
They were all shocked as Arthur just made his way back up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. Carolyn looked at them both, apoplectic with rage but still managing to look concerned.  
“What has that horrible man done now?” Douglas looked grim.   
“I don’t know but we need to solve it fast. Come on Martin, let’s get you on the plane. “ 

He hauled the smaller man up the stairs and Carolyn followed angrily. Arthur was facing the other way in the galley, but Douglas ignored him and went into the flight deck. He placed Martin on the co-pilot’s seat carefully so he could make sure that they lifted off in time. It showed how distraught Martin was that he didn’t complain at this, and Douglas almost wished he would rather than be so despondent. Luckily, they only had a short cargo trip to France, so the chance of Martin running into Arthur was slim and at least they wouldn’t have to suffer this flight for long. Douglas and Martin tried to concentrate on the flight, but they couldn’t stop themselves from being able to hear Carolyn’s shouts and Arthur’s, much quieter responses. When they had been in the air for a good ten minutes, Carolyn entered the flight deck looking very troubled and even angrier than before, if that was possible.

“I can’t believe it. He told me he’s moving into Gordon’s England home.”  
Martin thought his heart would stop, a pervading feeling of dread filling in to the brim.  
“But why would he do that? His face, his poor face-“   
Douglas and Carolyn exchanged a glance; there seemed to be another layer in this issue between Arthur and Martin, one that they would discuss later.   
“I’ve never seen Arthur act like this before. I don’t know what Gordon must have said to him.”   
But Martin was beginning to feel the old feeling of blackness creep up in his mind making him feel worthless and helpless. He let out a desperate laugh.  
“Maybe he’s just doing what he really wants.”   
Carolyn and Douglas knew this must be untrue, but Martin was unmovable. He wouldn’t say another word and spent the flight in a depressed silence, Douglas and Carolyn unable to solve it.   
And in the galley, Arthur sat on the floor with his head in his hands, knowing what he had done to Martin and hating himself for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Arthur seems a bit OOC in this chapter, but all will be revealed soon enough! Just want to wrap him up in bubble wrap, don't you? :(


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I should be allowed to write fanfiction- I've managed to make a character even worse than Minty. Angst, thy name is Gordon!  
> This chapter explains what went on behind Arthur and Gordon's 'Little Talk'.

When Arthur had rung his father and he told him to wait at the airfield for a car to pick him up, he couldn’t just walk away. Oh, of course one could argue that he was free to do so, but Gordon had a curious hold on people, and although Arthur was filled with sadness when he was reminded of how his father tried to steal G-ERTI in St Petersburg and he knew how angry he was, his large heart still had room for forgiveness. Yes, despite his terrible father Arthur was still nursing a very tiny hope that he could forgive him. It’s what enabled him to date Minty for so long and forgive all the others who had tried to use him over the years. When the expensive black car rolled up to the air field, Arthur could see Tommo at the wheel, and was slightly saddened that it wasn’t his father, but then again Gordon wasn’t one to go somewhere when he could get someone else to do it. Arthur had been sort of fond of Tommo; he was a man of few words and Arthur quite liked that because he was free to natter to his heart’s content, something he was always told to stop in his childhood. Although Tommo was his dad’s right hand man, he had also cultivated a sort of fondness for Gordon’s silly son over the years, and felt almost sad that he had to pick him up and deliver him to the clutches of Gordon. But he didn’t say anything and Arthur wasn’t in a chatty mood for once, so the journey was quiet. 

One of Gordon’s English homes was in Fitton, and Arthur had visited it only once and knew how swish and expensive it was. Arthur wasn’t one to covet material things particularly; yes, he did enjoy having things but he could just as easily have fun with a box than a computer or expensive gadget. Most people would have been proud that they had managed to raise such a grounded child in such a rich family, but Arthur knew Gordon saw his lack of greed as a lack of ambition. Arthur did have ambitions; they were just easily attainable ones like ‘visit the zoo’ or ‘bake a pie’, or even ‘tell Skip you fancy him’. He knew his mum was proud of him, even though she never really said so, and he knew that Carolyn had had a pretty bad life so he always tried to do his best for her, even though that usually led to more disappointment. 

They finally arrived at the house, and Arthur was reluctant to get out even though he knew he must. Almost thirty, and he was still scared of his dad. Mind you, his Mum was even older and he knew she was still scared of him, though she didn’t like to admit it. Tommo came out of the car with him and brought him to the front door and knocked on it smartly. A small woman opened it, and Arthur knew it was his dad’s new lady Hayley even though they hadn’t met all too often. She was always polite to him, but she always looked at him like he was slightly ridiculous.

“Oh hello, Arthur. Your father’s just in his study. I’ll bring you through.”   
Arthur was sad that he didn’t really know Hayley because he always loved getting to know people, but he knew that probably wasn’t going to happen any time soon. He made his way through the large corridors with her, and she dropped him off outside of an impressive oak door. He knocked and heard a loud,  
“Come in.”  
He entered, and there was his father sat on a plush looking chair, looming down like he always did. Gordon was a tall man, but so was Arthur; even so, his father still managed to loom. They did have a few similarities, but Gordon would always look different from the gentle Arthur with his impressive and usually scowling face. This was one of the many reasons why Arthur always looked at the world with a childlike naivety; once when he was younger he got a little annoyed at something and Carolyn looked at him like she sometimes looked at his father and from then on he resolved to be the polar opposite. Most people couldn’t understand how the fierce Carolyn and Gordon had managed to raise such a cheerful child, but to be honest Arthur mostly acted cheerful so that he could make his life cheerful by default, even if it was actually less than happy. Maybe people could call it being stupid, but at least it meant that Arthur could be happy rather than miserable. Arthur waited for his father to speak, as he had always been told to. His father took a sip from a tumbler in his hand, and Arthur’s eyes zoned in on it warily, his heart sinking. His father drunk was never a good sign.

“So, Arthur. Not seen you for a while.”   
Arthur knew he had to speak, but really didn’t want to because he knew when he was scared he began to ramble, and he knew his father hated it when he rambled.  
“Yes! Not for ages, hah, yeah not since, since-“   
He didn’t want to say St Petersburg in case his father was reminded of being thwarted in his evil plan, but he knew Gordon caught what he was getting on to say.   
“Yes, not since that merry occasion. How’s your mother?”  
His mum? Why would he care?  
“She’s-“  
“Actually, I don’t care. “  
Arthur didn’t know what to say, so didn’t say anything. His father took another sip.  
“Well, Arthur. I suppose you are wondering why I asked you to come here. “  
“Y-yes.”  
“I have been hearing some things about you. Some very interesting things that I thought we had dealt with in your past.”  
Arthur could feel himself beginning to shake, and tried so hard to hold it in. Yes, he did remember his dad dealing with it last time, though he always tried to forget.

“Arthur, I know it is hard for you, but do you understand how important the Shappey name is?”  
Arthur nodded, thrown by the unexpected change in subject.  
“Yes, we Shappey’s have had our name handed down the generations proudly, from father to son which is what I hoped for you, though God knows that has been a useless hope. So why has a stupid little bint told me that you are throwing this away to be with a poor disgrace of a man?”  
Arthur couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.  
“Tell me it isn’t true.”  
Oh god, not the soft voice, the calm before the storm to lure him in. Gordon knew that Arthur could not lie, and he already knew what the answer was. He just wanted Arthur to go through with the charade. Arthur gulped and prepared himself.  
“I-I can’t.”  
There was a silence after this, and he saw Gordon lean back in his chair saying in the softest voice,  
“Well, well.”  
Before Arthur knew what was happening, Gordon had launched himself off of the chair and had pinned him against the wall, his face an inch away.

“I knew you would always prove to be such a fucking disappointment. First it turns out you are an idiot, then it turns out you fail at everything you try AND THEN YOU TELL ME YOU’RE GOING TO THROW THIS FAMILY NAME AWAY FOR A FUCKING LOSER OF A MAN?”   
Arthur had braced himself for the first punch, but the pain still made his head reel.  
“Dad, please-“   
He knew it would make no difference. Gordon merely sneered, pausing his violence momentarily.  
“The saddest thing about it is that I actually thought one day you might inherit this all. You would be able to save your pathetic mother’s even more pathetic company, but after this I can’t stand the bloody sight of you.”   
Arthur hung his head, but still said nothing.  
“I know you don’t even want the inheritance, you little unambitious loser. But you catch me in a generous mood. If you promise to dump that stupid excuse for a Captain, I won’t disinherit you.”  
Arthur had heard this a thousand times before. He knew what he had to say.  
“I won’t.”   
Gordon’s face grew so angry that Arthur was surprised that he hadn’t been burned away by the sheer force of it. He leaned closer.  
“You would throw it all away, just for him?”  
Arthur nodded, hardly aware of what he was doing. He might look soft, but Arthur was imbued with a vast supply of strength and stubbornness beneath the surface. To his surprise, Gordon laughed.  
“Oh Arthur. Do you know what I can do to Martin?”  
“No, please-“  
“It would be so easy to get his flying license removed, I could just spread a few rumours about him here and there. And I’ve heard of his cheap removal company, pfft. I could stop his customers, and then how would your big strong Captain be able to afford his house, ahem, flat? He would live on the street.”   
Gordon’s voice was terrible, mesmerising. Arthur couldn’t help but listen in horror.  
“I know about his past, Arthur. I know about all of them, the failed alcoholic, the suicidal pilot.”  
“S-suicidal?”   
Gordon let out an even louder laugh at this.  
“Dear me, claim to love him but don’t even know anything about him? Would be a shame to push him over the edge, wouldn’t it dear Arthur?”  
Arthur looked at his father in utter distress, pleading.  
“Dad, please. Do anything you want with me, disown me, hurt me, make me lose my job, just please please don’t do anything to him.”  
But Arthur realised too late that his father had gotten all the proof he had been searching for. His face turned disgusted.  
“Oh god, you really do love him don’t you?”   
He reached back his hand and punched him again in the face, and this was the heavy blow that gave Arthur his black eye. Arthur brought his hands to his face and could feel blood from his split lip on his fingers.  
“Say it.”  
“I love him.”  
Smack.  
He went to sit back down, having had his fun; Arthur was left gripping the bookcase and trying not to crumple. Gordon wanted to destroy Martin, and now he knew exactly how to do it.  
“I have an offer for you, Arthur. Sit down.”  
Arthur did as he was told, Gordon peered at his face hungrily.  
“Oh, that’s going to be a nasty bruise. Anyway, here it is: if you break it off with Martin, then I won’t do anything to sabotage your Mum’s company and I won’t disinherit you.”  
Gordon knew he was making Arthur choose between his Mum and his lover, and he knew he was utterly relishing it. Arthur stared at him with his uninjured eye in desperation.  
“You won’t do anything to Martin?”  
“If you step a toe out of line, I will chose what punishment I think is best.”  
Arthur didn’t know what to do. He knew he was in a losing situation either way. Either, he break it off with Martin and watch his heart break, or stay with Martin and watch his life crumble away to dust and be helpless knowing that he had caused it. Arthur was in love, he knew it, finally knew it.  
He knew he had never gotten to tell Martin. He knew what he had to say.  
“I’ll tell him…I’ll tell him it’s over.”  
“That’s my boy. You’ll forget about him soon enough when I introduce you to some lovely ladies I happen to know. You can have the room on the third floor; I’ll get Tommo to fetch your things tomorrow.”  
Arthur barely registered the fact that he had just agreed to live with his dad. He knew he was excused and left for the third floor. He met no one on the way there and when he opened the door he saw that the room was beautiful.   
But it wasn’t beautiful to him because there was no Martin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I'm sorry! Depressing stuff. But at least we know a bit more about Arthur's situation! In a way, he's just trying to do the right thing :(


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about this chapter- I wanted to post it this morning but we had a power cut! Which is really odd we never really get them :( Oh well, I have wifi now! Thank you all for your lovely, lovely comments. It makes writing this a pleasure :)

When they touched down in France and delivered the cargo, Carolyn announced that they were going to go for lunch as they didn’t have to fly back for another few hours. This was an indication of how bad the situation was- Carolyn never bought them all lunch if she could help it. After completing all of the necessary paperwork, the crew began to walk out of the airport, Arthur trailing behind. This in itself was unusual as Arthur usually bounced through each and every destination, looking around him in glee and wonder. But today he kept his distance, and Martin refused to turn around and look at him. They couldn’t possibly know that Arthur could see a suited man following them, unmistakeably someone who worked for Gordon and was waiting to see if Arthur would slip up. He kept on replaying the awful words he had said to Martin over and over in his head, and he just could not get his mind away from Martin’s utterly heartbroken expression, his resigned face. Arthur dearly wanted to stand up to his father and reclaim his Skip, but how could he ruin Martin’s life? Surely Skip could find someone better to love him, although the thought of this was like a knife twisting in his gut. 

They found a reasonably cheap looking café outside the airport and settled down to a quiet lunch. Carolyn and Douglas tried to keep the conversation going, but it was impossible to engage either Arthur or Martin, who were both resolutely not looking at each other. When it was time to pay the bill, Arthur announced that he would pay it at the shock of everyone. Truth be told, Gordon had given Arthur some money, perhaps thinking it would placate him, and Arthur couldn’t bear to spend it on himself. Martin, however, was not an idiot, and he stared at Arthur’s wallet, slowly putting two and two together. 

“I don’t want Gordon’s pity money.” he spat. Arthur tried to say something, but Martin moved his chair back and stormed angrily out of the café, leaving the three shocked in his wake. Arthur still put the money down on the table and Carolyn looked at him sadly.  
“You took his money.”  
Arthur nodded; there wasn’t any point in lying. Douglas and Carolyn exchanged a look- they never, ever thought that Arthur would sell any of them out for money. Douglas tried to be gentle.  
“Did he, offer you anything else?” Arthur shook his head, his eyes wide. He desperately wanted to tell them something, but he knew the suited man could still be watching them.  
“So it’s not about what he offered- ah. So he is threatening you?” From somewhere in the distance, Arthur heard a pointed cough. It could have been anyone, but he was sure it was a warning. Frightened, he leapt from his seat and said in a high voice,  
“Sorry, I just really, really need the toilet. I wonder where it, oh excuse me-“ 

He hurried through the café, and Douglas and Carolyn watched him go worriedly. Douglas turned to Carolyn and she could see that all of his usual traces of mirth were gone, his voice deadly serious.  
“Something is going on. I can feel it.”  
“I know what you mean. Gordon was always fond of blackmail.”  
Douglas couldn’t resist it any longer; he had to ask.  
“Carolyn, I don’t mean to be rude but, why on earth did you marry him?” He saw her purse her lips tightly before answering, a fire in her eyes.  
“I know it seems incredible, but when I met Gordon I was a foolish, heartbroken young lady who had just caught her husband having an affair with her sister. I didn’t have much money, and he was rich and, it sounds unbelievable, charming.”  
Douglas looked at her closely. He knew Carolyn could come across as being pretty shrewd, but he knew she had higher standards that just going out with someone because they were rich. She interpreted this easily, and heaved a sigh.  
“I am not stupid enough to believe that riches will ever be enough to cement over someone’s awful personality. I’d had enough, was ready to leave, and then I did the most stupid thing of all.”  
“What was that?”  
“I became pregnant.”  
Douglas felt sad that the birth of someone as happy as Arthur could have caused Carolyn to have to cling onto her miserable life with Gordon.  
“Oh Carolyn, that’s not your fault.”  
“But it was! I should never have allowed a child into that loveless marriage. I know I may seem harsh on him, but never,” He saw here nostrils flare dangerously and a look of motherly love burn in her eyes.  
“Never think I regretted having Arthur. “  
Douglas looked at her in admiration, his voice quiet.  
“I never thought you did.”  
“I have never told him this, never told anyone this, but I am glad Arthur is such an insufferably cheerful boy. Even though it meant I had to stay with Gordon, how could I have ever been disappointed with a baby that always smiled, a boy that always tried to cheer me up, a man who makes sure I am not alone?” He saw a few tears in her eyes and looked away, giving her privacy. He heard her wipe her face, but her voice was strong.  
“And that is why I will not tolerate this situation. We will do something about it.”  
Douglas nodded, also resolute.   
“Yes, I rather think we will.”

***

The flight back to Fitton went without a hitch, which was unusual for their slapdash company. Ironically, it seemed that when the crew wasn’t being silly and were being normal and boringly polite, the trip went surprisingly smoothly. Even though this was sort of a good thing company-wise, Carolyn found she actually missed the mayhem. Martin had returned to the airport after storming out of the café and was acting cordial around everyone, and affected an obvious politeness towards Arthur. Arthur was polite back, but he didn’t interact with Martin much because Martin did his best not to cross paths with him. Arthur was somewhat glad of this, because it meant he didn’t have to see Martin’s pained expression when he looked at him. When they touched back down in Fitton, Douglas asked Martin to meet him on the grassy banks just outside of the airfield. Martin didn’t have any fight let in him, so numbly agreed, wondering what Douglas could possibly want to say to him. 

Douglas met him on top of the hill, facing away from the lovely backdrop of the setting sun; though Martin couldn’t enjoy it. Now, Douglas had been watching Martin closely since the disastrous events of the morning. He noted that although Martin had been very subdued when flying the plane, his eyes constantly flickered in the direction of Arthur and he saw Martin’s pained expression every time his eyes fell on Arthur’s terrible black eye. He saw when Martin shouted at Arthur in the café a definite desperate sadness in his face, as if he knew he was doing wrong but was too confused to care. He had seen Arthur’s hands twitching on his lap, inching closer to Martin’s own and then stopping. He could see the signs. When Martin reached Douglas, he saw the rigid posture he had attempted to adopt to make Arthur believe he didn’t care drop, and he seemed to shrink. They both watched as G-ERTI’s door opened and the far away figure of Arthur left the air field, and Douglas could see the longing and regret in Martin’s eyes.  
“Gosh, you really do care for him, don’t you?” He wasn’t mocking, merely sad, and Martin didn’t want to lie anymore.  
“I-I think,” His voice cracked and he sounded tired beyond belief.  
“I think I love him.” 

The incorrigible romantic in Douglas’s heart crashed down at these desperate words. He knew Martin must feel strongly, but love?  
“Oh Martin.”  
Douglas knew about love, knew what it was like to think it was all right and have it come crashing down three times. But he didn’t think he had ever witnessed anything as soul destroying as Martin right now. Martin turned to Douglas in desperation, his body bathed in the glow of the setting sun.  
“Please fix this. I don’t know how, I just can’t bear it. Please fix this.”   
Douglas knew Martin hated begging and hated people thinking he wasn’t in control. Even though Douglas knew he was dependable and resourceful, he didn’t know if even he had the power to mend a broken heart. He couldn’t deny Martin though, not like this.  
“I’ll try my best.”   
Martin nodded and made his way towards the exit of the airfield. Douglas watched him go with a heavy heart and a feeling of duty. He would indeed try his best. 

When Martin left the airfield, he noticed that Carolyn and Arthur were long gone. He thought his day couldn’t get any worse. He didn’t have the money to pay for the bus, let alone a taxi, so he began the long walk home. In time, he returned to his dingy attic room. He couldn’t even summon the energy to take off his uniform. He just lay on his bed, facedown and utterly silent. He wished his racing head could be as silent, but every thud from the students downstairs seemed to turn into one word repeated over and over: failure. He didn’t want to think of Arthur, think of how he had failed at another relationship when it seemed that everything was going to be alright, but his head was brimming with dark thoughts. He did manage to sleep eventually, but it was a troubled sleep, filled with dark shadows and loneliness.

***  
When Arthur returned to his father’s home, he was shocked to see Gordon ready to greet him in the hallway, a dangerous grin on his face.   
“Well, well Arthur. I did not expect you to fail this early on.”  
He was absolutely flabbergasted; what had he done wrong?  
“What? But, but I didn’t speak to Skip- I mean Martin-“  
But the damage was done. Gordon’s grin became even wider.  
“Two mistakes now. You will only refer to him as ‘Martin’, if you ever must do again. Also, I have been informed that you were aiding that old drunk and your awful mother in trying to work out my plans. Looks like Martin won’t be getting any customers for his removal service any time soon.”   
Arthur could only stare at him, aghast. What was the point of going through all that with Martin if his Dad was just going to go through with his threats anyway? But he knew better than to argue; Gordon could do something even worse if he was angered more. He could only nod, and moved past him to go to his room. When Arthur arrived, he saw that Tommo had indeed brought some of his things from his mum’s house and it comforted him to have the familiar objects this new and frightening room. He spent a while unpacking his bag, then frowned as his hands clasped a strangely shaped object at the bottom. He brought it out curiously, and let out a sob when he registered what it was. Tommo, whether it was intuition or just thought Arthur would like it, had packed the model aeroplane that Martin had given to Arthur what felt like years ago. Arthur hugged it to his chest and kissed the little propeller, wishing. 

***

Carolyn came home to an empty house. How often had she bemoaned the fact that Arthur stayed at home, making mess and causing destruction? But without her son’s laughter and sunny presence, the large house felt hollow and unwelcoming. Carolyn hated feeling not in control, absolutely hated it, and hated that after all of these years she still couldn’t protect her son from Gordon. She had always worried that he would become one of those rich brats that idolised their awful father no matter what, and had been secretly pleased that he had grown up clearly preferring the company of his mother. Yes, Carolyn could be sharp tongued, but that is how she showed affection, and sharp words usually ran off Arthur like water off a duck’s back anyway. When she thought back to Arthur’s black eye, and she often did, she could hardly contain her urge to smash something, anything. She remembered a terrible occasion in her past when Gordon had been violent towards her, and when he had finally left the room to get another drink, Arthur had emerged quietly from a dark corner, having been hiding whilst playing a game by himself. He was only six, and she thought he would start crying or escape from the room, blocking out the horror. But he just climbed onto Carolyn’s lap and clung on to her, kissing her face and telling her that he loved her. And she knew that Arthur didn’t see her as a failure or a waste of space, and it gave her strength to have such a small but loving person that belonged to her and thought the world of her. She had always tried her best to keep Arthur away from his father’s violence, and she knew she had failed miserably. Suddenly, she couldn’t bear the looming house any longer and got out her mobile.  
“Herc?”  
“Oh, hello Carolyn!”  
“Are you back from your flight?”   
Herc caught her odd tone and it worried him.  
“Yes, just arrived back actually. Is everything alright?”  
Carolyn couldn’t bring herself to tell him on the phone. She hated how wobbly her voice had become.  
“Could you, is there any chance…”  
Herc was really worried now; Carolyn was always fluent and sarcastic, not wavering and distressed. He started to put his coat on with one hand, holding his phone to his ear with the other.  
“I am coming over right now.”

After her divorce, Carolyn swore that she would never become dependent on another man again. But she had begun to trust Herc; after all he had stayed with her even though she had little to offer. And he was such a kind man, much kinder than the manipulative men she’d had the unfortunateness to be involved with in the past. Soon enough, Herc banged on her front door and she let him in. He took one look at her and ushered her to the sofa, sitting down next to her gently. He let her talk, and grew increasingly horrified at what she was telling him. He knew how much she liked to be independent, but after being with her for a while he knew that she secretly liked to be comforted. He put an arm round her and she sunk into him, unwilling to stop him. He kissed her on the cheek.  
“Carolyn, you are an amazing mother, you do realise that?”  
She gave a hollow laugh.  
“Yes, I am amazing, letting my son go back to his evil father.”  
“But it seems to have been partly Arthur’s choice even though it does appear he is being blackmailed. No, I think you are an amazing mother because I can SEE that you are going to fight for him.”  
He felt her take his hand and he smiled; he loved it when Carolyn let go of her usual aloofness and showed affection. She looked at him seriously.  
“You with me?”  
“All the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's strange, writing this story has made me realise what a lovely couple Carolyn and Herc are- I just love them both together so much! Nothing can get away from them being badass together ;)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this massive chapter; I wasn't sure if I should split it so just decided to go the whole hog and post it all! I'm away from home which is why this is so early XD

Martin woke up in the morning wondering why he felt so sad. Then, the events of yesterday flooded his mind once more and it was a while before he could summon enough energy to even get out of bed. When he finally did, he saw that one of the students had pushed his post under the door as they often did when it was in their way in the hall. He opened a letter, and his heart sank as he saw that it was enquiring once again about this month’s rent. He had some of it, and hopefully he would be able to gather enough jobs to scrape by. He grabbed his phone from his bed side table and frowned as he saw that he had three messages, the little envelope signs winking ominously at him. Martin didn’t really speak to that many people on his phone, so this worried him immensely. The worry changed to horror and confusion as he read the first text and saw that it was someone cancelling their delivery job for today; no explanation, just that they no longer required him. He flicked through the next two texts desperately and saw that they said the same. Three jobs, all gone. How was he supposed to have any money? His life was precarious as it was, and something as disastrous as this could tip him over the edge. He had worked out that if he managed to get enough delivery jobs between flights this week then he would have just enough for rent, but this would set him back terribly. 

He was reminded of Carolyn’s previous promise that if he was ever in a fix like this again he should ask them for help, and he was tempted to ring her. But then he remembered that her promise had included asking Arthur to help him, and the light heartedness of this memory made him feel very, very depressed. And when Martin became depressed, he forgot that he had a loving family at MJN, thought that everyone saw him as the useless failure that he saw in the mirror every single day. I don’t need their help, he thought, even though he knew he was in for a tough time. He went into the kitchen to try and forage for some breakfast, but of course the food that Arthur had brought all those days ago looked on at him in their merry packaging, and he couldn’t bear to touch them. Every bright colour, every smiling animal on the packaging reminded him of Arthur. He took a slice of the bread that was starting to go a bit hard, and resigned himself to another miserable couple of days. He didn’t have anything to do now his delivery job had been cancelled and couldn’t bear to stay at home all day doing nothing, so he decided to go on a walk round Fitton lest he just wallow in his room. When he left the room and went down the stairs, he saw some students hanging round the bottom. One of them looked at him coyly.

“How’s it going Martin? Not seen your Arthur in a while. Where is he?”   
“How the hell should I know?” 

They looked shocked at his sudden vehemence, and he did regret being rude but he really was at the end of his tether. They would probably be happy with that information anyway; after all, it was still gossip. But Martin had misunderstood the students in his distressed state, and they really were sorry that the odd, yet happy steward had not returned yet. Martin might be a strange and mysterious addition to the house, but they did look upon him fondly like he was an uncle that they didn’t often see. They thought he was acting rather strange, but they had no one they could contact about it as Martin had no other visitors other than Arthur.

Martin turned his coat collar against the wind, yet could still feel its icy reach through the threadbare coat. He knew that going on a walk wouldn’t stop his thoughts, but at least if he was in public he had to try and adopt some kind of decorum rather than just curl up on his bed. The sad thing was was that Martin was not a stupid man; he perhaps could have worked out that Arthur was under some kind of threat from Gordon rather than acting of his own volition, but a dark voice whispered in his mind, urging him that Arthur decided that he simply wasn’t worth it. Maybe Arthur had decided that his kisses just weren’t worth the bother, that his embraces were worthless. Maybe Arthur beginning to distance himself from the company was a good thing; he could finally grow up, get a proper job, find a partner. Martin reached a park and lowered himself down on a worn wooden bench, ignoring the cold weather and trying to focus on the green around him. He stayed there for a long time, barely registering the slight drizzle that had started.

***

 

Douglas often liked to spend his days off flying enjoying himself and hopefully scoffing a delectable amount of sushi. But today he had some digging around to do; what was the point of being fired for illegal duties if he didn’t use his hard won knowledge occasionally? Douglas had begun thinking hard about Gordon, about his nasty temperament, vast riches and supply of lackeys. He had the confidence of a man who controlled many people, and Douglas had seen his type hundreds of times before. When Douglas was at the apex of his smuggling past, he had seen countless men swagger around, expecting the world to fall at their feet, and he was beginning to wonder at the innocence of Gordon’s riches. Could he unearth something to bring Gordon to his knees? Or at least make him release Arthur back into their arms. It was worth a try, and Douglas knew he had to be very, very careful. But he wasn’t Douglas ‘Skygod’ Richardson for nothing, and he knew that although he was getting on a bit he still knew the tricks of the trade. He had an old phonebook full of numbers, old fashioned maybe, but he liked to have any information stored so he could have it for future use. Thus, he began his investigations.

***

 

It was a while before Martin registered that he was soaking wet and shivering, so engrossed in his miserable thoughts was he. He had been shaken out of his reverie by a series of short barks in the distance, and squinted as a slightly ridiculous, yet familiar dog began to run across the grass. The dog reached him and nudged his leg, and he was still wracking his brains when a very out of breath Herc stumbled out of the trees holding a dog lead shouting,  
“Snoopadoop! Dear God, why do I let Carolyn do this to me?” 

He stopped in his tracks as he registered the crumpled looking figure of Martin on the bench. Out of his uniform, he looked even smaller and Herc rushed towards the bench.  
“Martin? Look, you are absolutely soaked!”

Martin felt extremely embarrassed; he hardly ever bumped into anyone he knew when he left the house, and he knew that he looked a real mess. The rain had made his already unruly hair wild, and he didn’t complain as Herc grasped his wrist.  
“Freezing too. I have had it with this ridiculous dog walking fiasco; I’m taking you with me.”  
“Oh, no Herc, please, I don’t want to be a bother-“  
“Martin.” Herc’s voice was gentle and like honey.  
“It is not a bother when it’s family.”   
Martin felt rather choked up at these words, and let himself be hauled away by Herc. He was bundled into Herc’s lime green car, Snoopadoop on his lap and slowly warming him up. He patted her silky head, and she yapped happily.  
“So why are you walking Snoopadoop?”  
“Well, Carolyn’s busy with work stuff and she doesn’t usually walk her on Wednesdays, that’s usually Arthur’s-“  
Herc stopped, and Martin knew Carolyn must have told him everything. He didn’t broach the subject again, and Martin was grateful. When they reached Carolyn’s house and Herc rapped on the door, Carolyn looked very surprised to see Martin stood there shivering and holding the warom body of Snoopadoop to his chest.  
“Martin, what on earth are you doing here?”  
“I found him in the park, do you mind if-?”  
“Oh no, of course. Come in, Martin.”

Martin realised that although he had been to Carolyn’s house before, he had never really been in a non-work related situation. And definitely not without- someone. It was a very nice house, Martin reflected, and it made him feel strange to think that Carolyn and Arthur must have had to downsize from their other home. Perhaps Arthur had realised how poor Martin really was and decided he wasn’t good enough?

They sat him down and took his coat to put it on the radiator; Carolyn lit the fire to warm Martin up. She felt sad as she lit the wooden logs as Arthur always begged her to put the fire on so he could lie in front of it like a happy puppy. She could see that Martin enjoyed it just as much, and this pleased her. Herc went to go and make them drinks and Carolyn sat in a plush armchair.  
“What were you doing in the park in the rain?”  
“Oh, I just…lost track of time I suppose.”   
Carolyn peered at him closely, but could tell that he was telling the truth. He just seemed so lost that she was glad Herc had found him before he did something stupid. When Herc came back into the room bearing a tray with mugs of tea, Carolyn was glad to see that he had remembered to put some biscuits on a plate because Martin looked ravenous.  
“Martin, are you eating properly again?”  
“Yeah, “ He lied.  
“I still have some food left from…the other week.”   
Carolyn remembered Arthur popping round to offer Martin food and was glad that he had not refused it. She could see Martin preparing himself to say something, and Herc looked up from his custard cream with concern.  
“Is there something wrong?”  
Martin didn’t want to tell them, he knew they would worry, but he felt he had to tell someone.  
“Three people cancelled delivery jobs on me this week. Three. How am I supposed to pay my rent?”   
Carolyn went cold; she knew how much martin relied on his delivery jobs for cash. She would lend him some herself, but the reason why she got Herc to walk Snoopadoop was so that she could ring the bank, and it wasn’t good news.   
“Oh Martin. Are there no other customers?”  
“No, in fact,” His voice turned confused.  
“No one has contacted me at all today. I mean, I usually get enquiries, price checks, that sort of thing. But today and yesterday, nothing.”  
They all mulled this over for a while until Martin announced that he was going to the bathroom. When he left, Herc turned to Carolyn.  
“Do you think Gordon did this?”  
“I’m not sure, is there a way he could have got in contact with Martin’s customers?”  
“I don’t know, it does seem rather fishy.”

When Martin made his way out of the bathroom on the floor above, he couldn’t help but notice that one of the doors in the corridor was ajar. He wouldn’t usually go snooping around someone else’s house, but the door was a bright burning yellow, and he knew exactly what that meant. He couldn’t resist it; he opened the door fully and stepped into what had to be Arthur’s room. It was very large and filled with so many colours that it made Martin’s head spin. But what he was drawn to was the wall at the far end which was absolutely plastered with photos. And not just any old photos, photos of MJN from the very beginning of their time with Martin to the trip to Lanzarote. Martin saw that Arthur must have had to step on a ladder to put all the photos up, and he couldn’t help but smile as he saw photos documenting all their journeys throughout the years. His heart leapt as he saw one of the photos from when he, Arthur and Douglas had tried on the silly hats on their last trip, stared hungrily at their ecstatic expressions. His hands reached to stroke Arthur’s smiling face, and he stopped them. His eyes automatically moved to the photo next to it, and he couldn’t take his eyes away. It wasn’t a particularly flattering one of Martin; he had his fez on crookedly and he looked like he was about to fall over. But it was Arthur that his eyes were drawn to. Even in the photograph, the tender look that Arthur was giving Martin was unmistakeable, and this just confused Martin so much. Without even thinking about it, he took the photo from the wall and placed it in his pocket. 

He moved away from the wall and saw a stuffed polar bear on Arthur’s bed side table, which also made him smile slightly. He saw that Arthur had placed a photo on it and had been in the process of writing a caption for it; he reached for it. When he read the words ‘My Skip.’ he had to drop the photo back down onto the table and retreat to try and stem his overwhelming feelings. He was so utterly confused; what did Arthur want from him? He had told Martin that he didn’t want to be with him, but this all screamed that he still cared for Martin. And, although Martin could not have possible known this, the placement of these photographs was actually a cruel trick of Gordon’s. Even though Arthur had got the photos developed in the airport and had indeed written ‘My Skip’ on the photo, he had done this at Gordon’s house because he had not been home since they got back from Lanzarote and had therefore been unable to put the photos on his wall or next to his bed. When Arthur had left to go to work, Gordon had infiltrated his room in search of things that would cause the most damage. He saw the photos that Arthur had taken and had given them to Tommo to plant in Arthur’s room; he assumed that Martin would go there eventually, and he wanted to cause him the most pain possible. When Arthur had returned to his room and found that some, but not all, of his photos were missing, he was very confused. He couldn’t think where they had escaped to, so pushed it out of his mind.  
Meanwhile, Martin found he couldn’t bear to be in a room that reminded him so forcefully of Arthur, so he returned downstairs, feeling ill and tired. He spoke quietly.

“I think I’m ready to go now.” Carolyn and Herc looked at him in shock.  
“Surely you can stay? You look so ill-“  
Although Martin was flattered to be invited, he could not stay in this house any longer.   
“Please, I just need to go back.”  
He sounded so desperate that they had to let him go. Herc drove him back, and wished that he could go and grab Arthur and force them to have a talk, to sort out this unbearable situation. He would have to see if Douglas had come up with any plans. 

***

Arthur felt utterly wretched. He knew that is father must have stopped Martin’s customers by now, and it made him feel sick to his stomach knowing that he had caused such an upset. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it; what was the point in denying himself a relationship with Martin in order to protect him if his father was going to go through with his plans anyway? It was a hopeless situation, and Arthur wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it. He also missed his mother dearly; she may moan at him, but he truly enjoyed living with her and knew she liked his company. He wondered if he should try and escape the house, but knew Gordon would cook up a truly horrific revenge. 

Eventually, Arthur was summoned to dinner, and he made his way to a grand dining room containing his father and Hayley. She sat demurely next to Gordon, but did not offer Arthur a comforting smile or even acknowledge his existence. She wanted to be back in Australia in the sun and on the beach, but she knew she had to wait out Gordon’s plan first. His father was sober, but no less dangerous for it. Arthur sat down nervously, wondering if he would be able to act like the son Gordon wanted him to pretend to be, but Arthur had never been very good at acting. He loved to be himself, which was why he usually got into so many pickles; people didn’t much like it when you didn’t put on an act for them. Gordon was rich enough to have a chef who made them a delicious meal, and the steaming plates were placed in front of them. Arthur wished it was just one of the meals he and his mother had thrown together, not fancy but all the more delicious because of the fun it had been to make it. He picked at the food; recently he had rather lost his appetite. Hayley and Arthur were quiet, waiting for Gordon to speak. After a while, he put down his fork.

“So, Arthur. Hayley and I have been talking and we have decided we are going to host a dinner tomorrow with some friends. You will be there.”   
Arthur gaped at his father in disbelief. Gordon had attempted this in the past, and it always, always ended in disaster. Either his mother had crossed horns with the rude guests that were interested in Gordon but had nothing but contempt for his strange wife and child, or their children had mercilessly teased Arthur, getting him to do naughty things because he simply couldn’t refuse to. He knew he was older now, but he really didn’t like the sound of this. He knew Gordon expected him to agree though, so he had to swallow his fear.  
“Oh, ok.”  
“I am inviting some lovely ladies, one I believe you have met recently. Madeline and her friends shall be joining us, so try not to be an idiot. Try not to embarrass me.”  
Was he never going to be good enough?  
“I’ll, I’ll try.”  
“And Arthur,” Gordon’s voice went cold and harsh.  
“If you do, remember the repercussions.   
How could he forget? Arthur never wanted to see Minty again, especially now that she would be smug at her successful revenge. But he knew he would have to put up a charade. He tried to summon his inner happiness, to put a filter on these horrible events. The problem with this though was that when Arthur put a filter on the world, it meant he ignored what people said, and this was why people thought he was an idiot. He had decided long ago that if he didn’t think too hard about things, then nothing could hurt him. It was so much easier to plaster a large grin on his face, and hum happily through life. 

The rest of the meal was spent with Hayley chatting to Gordon about her day, which seemed to be as uneventful as a pampered housewife could possibly be. Arthur tried to speak at one point, but she gave him such a look that he stayed quiet. Gordon was glad to see that Arthur had grown out of his inane chatter, and was looking forward to tomorrow as he knew that Arthur would fail, and the next stage of his plan would be able to be brought into action.   
***

 

“Hello Herc.”  
“Oh Hello, Douglas. Been doing any sniffing around?”  
“Yes, I have found out some interesting things. Are you with Carolyn? No, wait, I can hear her shouting at something in the background.”  
“She is watching one of her damn soaps. I have told her too many times now that they cannot hear her, but still she insists. Anyway, do you want us to pop round?”  
“Yes, I need to show you what I have found out, and I would rather not do it on the phone.”  
“See you in five!” 

It was interesting, Herc mused as he put the phone down, how well he and Douglas got on when Douglas put aside his petty dislike. Oh, he knew why Douglas held him in slight contempt; Herc had rather been a heartbreaker in his youth and Douglas had witnessed much of it. Now, with the gift of age and rumination, he was slightly ashamed of the way he had been in the past, and resolved to be a better man. He knew Carolyn wondered why he stayed with her, but he had never met a woman with so much spirit, a woman who refused to be anything other than herself. Being a successful and smooth pilot had caused many false friendships and people who had wanted to take advantage of him, and he thought it was refreshing to be with Carolyn who told him the truth and didn’t sugar coat it. Yes, they argued, and yes, they did clash, but he had never had so much fun in a relationship. One of the sweetest things about Carolyn was the tenderness one could find if they dug deep enough, and Herc delighted in it when he found it. And Herc loved Arthur as well. He had always wanted children, but somehow it had never happened, and he had never thought that Arthur was the idiot that people accused him of being. He just saw a man so eager to please and so innocent, and he knew that when he became serious about Carolyn he had to make sure that he involved Arthur. Herc wasn’t sure if he would have been a good father, but he hoped that is what he would become to Arthur; the father he never had. That is why Herc resolved to help the poor Arthur and Martin; that’s what fathers did. 

***  
Carolyn had never been inside Douglas’s house before, but when she finally did she saw that it suited him perfectly. He had lots of artwork adorning the walls, no doubt some of his own, and lots of plush and comfortable furniture which just begged to be sat down on. Although his house was very appealing it did seem rather lonely, much like her own Arthur-less home, and Carolyn realised that none of them had really talked to Douglas about his personal life since he broke up with his wife. He could be rather aloof, but even Douglas had feelings, and Carolyn decided that she would ask Herc to talk to him about it and make sure he was ok. Even though he was undoubtedly sneaky and devious, she had grown to see him as a friend and didn’t want him to feel lonely. She was proud enough not to want him to see her worry, which was why Herc would implement her plan. Douglas led them into his front room and they sat on a roomy sofa waiting for him to speak.

“Right, as you both know, I have been talking to some old friends today about the innocent or not so innocent doings of a certain Gordon Shappey.”  
“Do you think Gordon would use his real name in such circumstances?”  
“Ah, that’s exactly what I thought; this is why it has been a delicate business. You can’t just dive in, say people’s names and expect them to cough up. No, you have to be patient and poke around a bit.”  
“And were you successful?”  
For the first time in her life, Carolyn was glad to see a slightly smug expression on Douglas’s face.  
“It was difficult at first, but some people owed me favours from a while back, and I had to make out that I wanted to do business with Gordon. People are more likely to help you if you seem interested rather than trying to rat them out. I asked Anton Barkov-“  
Herc’s voice cut in sharply.  
“Anton Barkov, isn’t he dangerous? I’m sure we got on the wrong side of him once and he threated to put you in a suitcase and throw you into the baggage car.”  
“Yes, that was rather a hairy situation wasn’t it? Well, I actually did a job for him just before I got sacked from air England and he owed me big time. Very happy to finally have the debt off his hands. He’s very deep into the smuggling business, and had heard a few things about Gordon.”

Carolyn and Herc stared at him intently. Carolyn had always wondered how exactly Gordon had amounted his riches, but had never bothered to ask lest he become violent. She just assumed he was born into a rich family. Douglas was now wearing a very sneaky grin, his eyes crinkled in a slightly evil way.  
“Well, I found out a lot of colourful stuff, including our good friend Minty.”  
“What? What the hell has she got to do with it?”  
“It seems that Gordon favours a bit of on the side drugs smuggling. I feel it’s rather overdone, to be honest, but each to their own. And who better to do it then an innocent-seeming rich girl who has her fingers in a lot of pilot related pies?”  
Carolyn was speechless, but then soon found her voice.  
“You mean…Minty has been smuggling drugs for Gordon?”  
“It would seem so. I couldn’t find out what exactly, but it seems she owes Gordon something and maybe she’s even getting a cut of the cash. More than likely she has been pressured by her fiancé. I'm surprised she hasn’t been caught what with airport security being as tight as it is, but I bet you she’s bribed somebody.”  
They all looked at each other intently; they finally had something on Gordon, and the added bonus of Minty. But when should they use it? It would be difficult to threaten him when Arthur was in his clutches, and Carolyn shuddered to think what he could do in his anger.  
“So, when should we confront him?”  
Douglas was thinking very carefully.  
“I think…I think we should just wait for the moment. See his next move and then strike.”  
Herc was wondering if this was the right thing to do, what if Gordon was going to do something truly horrible and they were too late? But, then again, maybe they should try and get Arthur out first.  
“And what about Martin, we can’t forget the poor boy.”  
Yes, Martin. He looked so hopeless when they last saw him.   
“We’ll have to look after him somehow. God knows he won’t let anyone help him, but we’ll have to try.”   
The others nodded in agreement, and Herc and Carolyn made their goodbyes. Herc just hoped Arthur and Martin were staying strong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, what could Gordon be planning now? Will Arthur be the perfect host? At least we have *Inspector Gadget theme* INSPECTOR DOUGLAS!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for every comment and kudos! We're almost nearing the end, and it really has been so much fun!  
> I hope you are all still enjoying this, though I wouldn't blame you if you were all shaking your fists and wanting to throw lemons at me XD

When Herc brought Martin back to his house, he checked his phone to see if he had any more messages. To his horror, he had four and he opened them with trepidation. All of his nightmares were confirmed when the first three proved to be even more cancellations for his removal service. He read the fourth dreading what this could possibly be, as it was from Tony, his landlord. It just said ominously “Call back as soon as you get this.” He dialled the number with shaking fingers.

“Hi Martin. Good to see you’ve finally joined the land of the living.”  
“Yeah, sorry about that. My phone was on silent and in my pocket…anyway, that doesn’t matter. Why did you want me to ring?” There was a pause, and Martin had the horrible feeling that Tony was trying to choose the right words to deliver some bad news.  
“Martin, you know I’ve been lenient to you these years-“  
Oh God.  
“Tony, not today, please not today-“  
“Martin, if it’s not today it’s tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I just can’t afford to have you constantly late on rent.”   
Martin pressed one hand to his face and closed his eyes.  
“I feel like my life is falling apart. If you do this, I won’t have anywhere left to go. I’ll have to sleep in my van.”  
Tony felt awful, he truly did. But he had a mortgage to pay and a family to support. He was sure Martin must have some friends he could go to for help.  
“I’m sure it’s not that bad. Don’t you have any friends or family?”  
“Please Tony, just give me a chance.”  
“Martin, look. I’m sorry but I’ve had a really good offer for the flat and I’m not really in a position to refuse them.”  
Martin felt cold, utterly cold. So, he was being bought out of his flat? Well, he could guess who the culprit was. So be it; why bother pretending his life was fine when he should just give up the charade?  
“W-when do you want me to move out?”  
He could almost hear Tony’s silent ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry’  
“As soon as possible, mate. At least by the end of the week.”  
Martin couldn’t put up a fight anymore, and Tony was worried by his suddenly distant voice.  
“Right…ok. I’ll, I’ll do that then. Thanks for the last couple of years, Tony.”  
“Martin,” Tony felt really worried for some reason.  
“Don’t do anything…stupid.”  
“I won’t. But it’s not like anyone’s going to miss me, is it?”   
He put the phone down, leaving Tony with a very, very bad feeling. What was Martin’s employer called again? He would have to find out and tell them Martin was acting strange. 

 

So. No customers, no money, no house. And no Arthur. What a bloody brilliant life he had. He still had flying, but how could he support his dream with no money? He used to have so much fight, but he just felt so, so tired of failing again and again. Who would really miss him if he was gone? Yes, he supposed Carolyn, Herc and Douglas would be a little sad, but they would get over it. And Arthur, well, he seemed like he already had considering he hadn’t contacted or even spoken to Martin properly. He would be gone, a mere whisper on the wind, a warning to those that dreams sometimes aren’t enough. He might as well do it soon then, to spare everyone his miserable company. Maybe he should have asked for help, but why was it that he always had to ask for help when things came so easily to everyone else? Carolyn could force her way through any situation, Douglas could charm anyone, no one could resist Arthur’s sweetness. But the world shunned martin, and he was sick of it. The more he thought, the more his anger built up and he found himself going into his kitchen and tearing the food from the cupboards, smashing it to the ground. His housemates didn’t hear him; they were having a house party downstairs and his pathetic room reverberated with the heavy bass pounding through the ceiling. Wordlessly, he went downstairs and stalked into the fray of students. People barely registered him, as usual, and no one said a thing when he grabbed the first bottle of alcohol he could see and slunk back to his room. He sat on his bed and downed the remaining drink; vodka, his dad’s favourite. He dully remembered the last time he failed his flying exams and how bad the self-hate had gotten then, remembered telling himself it would never get that bad again. Well, as usual, he had been wrong. As the room began to spin, he looked to his left and saw a bright shape emerging from underneath his pillow. He lifted it out in confusion, then gasped as it turned out to be the sunshine printed t-shirt that Arthur had given him on that distant, beautiful trip. He gripped it with both hands as if about to tear it to shreds, but he couldn’t do it. He lifted it to his face and sobbed, slowly curling up on the bed.   
It still smelt of Arthur.

***

The next morning, Martin’s head pounded incessantly, but he knew he had to heave himself out of bed and get to work. He was in an astoundingly bad mood, kicking anything he came across in his room and ignoring his protesting stomach. He left as soon as he got his uniform on and marched to the airfield, squinting against the harsh sunlight and concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. His bad mood annoyed him even more, because if all went to plan this would be his last flight and he didn’t really want to spend it in regret. He got to the airfield and summoned up his remaining energy to try and put on one last façade. He wanted them to remember him as he used to be; just competent and in control. He greeted Carolyn and Douglas when they arrived, and they were surprised to see that he didn’t look as hopeless as he did the other day. Martin noted this surprise, and it made him glad that he was doing a good job of faking it. They boarded the plane; they no longer waited for Arthur who slunk onto the plane when the coast was clear. Today, Martin thought he really would scream if he saw Arthur, so he stayed resolutely in the flight deck, chatting to Douglas who seemed eager to make use of Martin’s sudden good humour. For the first time in a while, Martin started to feel a little calm, and the flight went well. But of course, all good things came to an end.

Arthur decided that the only thing to get him through tonight’s ordeal would be a glimpse of Martin, who he hadn’t seen yet. He could stand his reproachful stare as he drunk in the flaming hair, the slight frame. He went to go and make coffee for the two pilots, using the nice blend as a peace offering. Douglas saw Martin’s face twitch when Arthur came in and deposited the two coffees next to them, but both men were silent. Arthur muttered a quick “Morning gents.” and left. Martin smelt the coffee, smelt the delicious gift Arthur had bought when everything felt right and the gaping hole in his chest opened wider, and something snapped. Douglas watched in confusion as Martin grabbed the coffee from the side and wordlessly strode across the room. He opened the door, seeing Arthur halfway down the corridor of the plane turn round at this unexpected noise. Martin hurled the cup of coffee at Arthur and it stopped short of him, the warm brown liquid cascading across the carpet towards his feet. He saw Arthur’s eyes widen in shock, then fear, then sadness and Carolyn stood up.  
“MARTIN!”  
Even he was a little shocked, he hadn’t meant to be violent. He was feeling so muddled. Everything he did was wrong, wrong, wrong.  
“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know-“  
“What the hell are you playing at?”  
“I don’t know; I just don’t know.”   
He bent down to clear away the spilt coffee, but Arthur recovered his shocked stance and bent down to get it.  
“No, it’s fine, I’ll do it.” 

He locked eyes with Martin, and it was the first time he had done so since their argument. Martin looked so desperate, and Arthur just wanted to reach out and grab him. He barely heard it, and Carolyn couldn’t, but Martin let out the most softly distressed whisper.  
“Was it all a lie?”

And Arthur did not know what to do; so he did nothing. And Martin stood up straight, marched to the flight deck and did not say another word for the rest of the trip. Not even when the radio buzzed with someone requiring information about the flight; Martin tightened his lips and Douglas took charge. He tried to talk to Martin, tried to tell him jokes, but nothing worked. Martin was as silent as a statue and just as still. Douglas decided that he’d had enough of this whole situation, he couldn’t bear to see Martin act like this, and they could not move away from it until Gordon was thwarted. They touched down in the Isle of Man, it had been a very short trip indeed and Martin had hoped for a more illustrious destination for his last flight, but he supposed it was better than nothing. They all disembarked the aircraft and Martin moved towards the café in the airport. He wasn’t going to waste his money on a drink, but it gave him the excuse to get away from everyone else and they let him go though they still felt worried about him. Arthur made an excuse to visit on of the many gift shops inside and as soon as he was gone, Douglas turned to Carolyn urgently.  
“We’ve got to do it tonight, damn the waiting. I won’t tolerate this anymore.” Carolyn was turned towards the direction Martin had left from.  
“I agree. There’s something very wrong with him today.”  
“I know our Captain can be a little hasty, but that was something entirely different. We can’t let him stay at his house tonight.”  
“Yes, he shall come to mine even if we have to bind and gag him. Should we get him before or after we sort out Arthur?”   
“Why don’t you and I confront Gordon, and Herc goes to get Martin? Then we can put them together, make them shake hands and forget this sorry ordeal ever happened?”   
Carolyn knew Douglas was trying to make the situation sound light-hearted simple; one did not simply confront Gordon lightly. Even though she really did not want to see Gordon again, she was prepared to fight him to protect Arthur. She rang Herc, and he arranged to meet her when they got back to Fitton. 

***

When Arthur was in the gift shop, his phone rang and his heart filled with dread as he saw his father’s name flash onto the screen. He accepted the call with extreme anxiety.  
“Hello, Arthur. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this before, but I have been thinking about our little party this evening, and I have come up with an excellent solution to our little…disagreement.”  
“W-what?”  
“ I don’t believe for one second that you have given up on that little loser pilot. You are going to prove it to me.”  
“Prove it? But how-?”  
“You are going to ask one of Minty’s friends out, and you will continue seeing her until you finally become the man I expect you to be.”  
Arthur was utterly distraught, he could not do this. He couldn’t live a lie and he was sick of his father’s demands.  
“I won’t do it.”  
There was a nasty pause, then Gordon’s voice turned acidic.  
“If you don’t, I will get Martin’s flying licence removed.”  
So, it had finally come to this. The ultimate threat; he finally realised that Gordon had managed to achieve what he really wanted. But Arthur wanted to stick up to his father for once.  
“I’m not doing it. I’m sick of you controlling me, making me do what I hate and then going through with your threats anyway.”  
“Oh dear. It’s such a shame that Martin will have to suffer the consequences.”  
“No he won’t- I’ll, I’ll stop you.”   
He heard a horrible, horrible laugh.  
“Oh, Arthur. I’ve already sent off my little ‘complaint’ about Martin. It’s too late to go back now. I hope you have fun looking at his face when he realises it was your fault that this happened.”  
And with that, Gordon put the phone down. Arthur couldn’t move, the horrible words ringing in his ears. He had to tell someone, they had to try and stop Gordon. He stumbled through the gift shop, his mind focused only on finding Carolyn. He eventually spotted her having a drink with Douglas, and they both looked at him in surprise as he garbled at them.  
“Mum, I need…please…”  
“So you’re finally talking to us.”  
“Dad, he’s…”

Carolyn’s mobile interrupted this, and she frowned as it was an unknown and official looking number. As the person on the other end spoke, Carolyn’s face rapidly changed from shock to anger, and her voice became raised. Douglas had no idea what was going on, but Arthur’s eyes were wide in horror. Carolyn put the phone down and turned to Douglas.  
“That was the police. They’ve told me that Martin is to be suspended from flying due to ‘expected drugs abuse’.”  
Douglas cursed- they should have struck yesterday before this happened! This would be difficult to undo, it could cause a smear on Martin’s record that might not come off.   
“Arthur, what do you know about this?” Arthur was crying now, large tears falling down his face.  
“My dad, he said if I did what he wanted he wouldn’t do it. But he asked me to do something and I told him I’d had enough. I didn’t think, oh it’s all my fault-“  
“Oh God, we should have just got you out sooner, you can’t blame yourself for Gordon’s plans.”   
“What are we going to do, what are we going to do?”  
“We can’t tell Martin now; I don’t think he can take it.”

But how futile this was. Martin, after getting annoyed looks from the waiters at the café because he clearly wasn’t buying anything, had slunk out and was standing round the corner from the rest of the crew when he heard Carolyn’s phone call. Suspended, eh? Well, at least Arthur had the decency to act upset. He supposed it was a tidy end; they would think that he had died not knowing. He felt strangely detached from it all, and he felt he should be angrier about his licence being taken away, but he supposed it was inevitable. He walked back towards the departure lounge, and found it darkly funny how the crew rejoined him with falsely normal expressions pasted on, hoping that they were fooling him into thinking everything was ok. Carolyn was slightly breaking protocol by letting Martin fly back, but she thought that they should put up with the charade while they returned to Fitton. She announced that Douglas would do all of the main flying duties to give Martin a rest, but he knew it was really so that he wouldn’t be noted down as actually flying the plane and Carolyn wouldn’t get in trouble. He went along with it, and it really was a pleasant last flight. Worlds away from the fun word games and ridiculous situations, but pleasant enough. When they touched down in Fitton, Martin looked at Carolyn and Douglas carefully, drinking them in one last time. 

“Carolyn, Douglas, thank you.”  
They were immediately confused by this.  
“Thank you for what?”  
“Just this.”   
It was an odd thing to say, and Carolyn hoped Herc would retrieve him swiftly; he was almost landing from his own flight. Martin left the flight deck, passed Arthur again and just said quietly,  
“I’m sorry.”  
Arthur began to say,  
“For what?” But Martin was gone. Martin hurried across the airfield before he turned around and changed his mind, and Arthur was still, before he finally made his mind up to go and get Skip, to tell him everything. He ran across the airfield and had nearly made it out when he was grabbed roughly from behind, dragged towards a swish black car and bundled in.  
“Evening, son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, everything is spiralling down, down, down...


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I sound like a broken record, but every comment, kudos and hit is like a beacon lighting my way through this fanfiction. I have written the end, and know where this is going now. Please enjoy :)

Arthur could not believe that he had been kidnapped by his father just before he had managed to make things right with Skip. He had tried to shout, but someone’s hand was covering his mouth and he could only stare at his dad in utter horror. Gordon just looked at him in amusement.  
“So sorry to stop you from going to your little boyfriend, but I believe we had plans tonight?”  
Arthur would not be playing along, he would escape. He had nothing to lose now, and as soon as he managed to get out he was going to go to Martin’s house and kiss him senseless and beg for forgiveness. When they arrived at Gordon’s house, they dragged him unceremoniously inside and locked the heavy doors behind him. Arthur was flung into his room, and that was locked too. He clawed desperately at the door, but he knew he couldn’t break it. He reached for his phone and realised that it must have been grabbed from his pocket as it was woefully empty. He refused to descend into despair and sat on his bed, furiously wracking his mind for a plan.

**

At the airfield, Carolyn could not for the life of her work out where Arthur had gone. She was going to take him home; screw handing him over to Gordon, and Douglas was easily as mystified. After a few moments, none other than Carl from ATC wandered out of the building, munching on a banana with a slightly bemused expression.   
“I have just seen the weirdest thing; it was like a Bond movie. Is Arthur really an international spy?”  
“What, you’ve seen Arthur?”  
“Just saw him being chucked into one of them dead fancy black cars.” He saw their shocked expressions and widened his eyes.  
“Oh no, was that serious? I thought Arthur was just living out one of his weird fantasies, like when he wanted us to do a séance when we had to retire that old baggage cart.”  
Carolyn did not have the time for this.  
“Carl, my son has just been kidnapped.”  
“Gosh, well, err… we had better track him down!”  
“You can go home. We will sort this out.”  
“Whatever you say, Ms Knapp-Shappey.” He was gone, still munching the banana and still imagining Arthur in an expensive suit.   
Carolyn turned incredulously to Douglas.  
“I cannot believe that Gordon has stooped to kidnapping Arthur. Hasn’t he done enough damage already?”  
Douglas suddenly felt very protective of the silly steward; one couldn’t spend so long in Arthur’s company without feeling slightly responsible for him. Stealing Arthur was like nicking a frightened bunny rabbit that could not fight back. It was unfair and cruel.  
“Well, now is the time to get him. I have my evidence against Gordon; we will have to try our best.”  
They both ran to Carolyn’s car, hoping desperately that Gordon hadn’t done something terrible to Arthur.

***

 

Martin walked back to his house so that he could buy enough alcohol on his way home so that he could be brave about what he was going to do. He thought Arthur looked like he was going to say something more to him when he said farewell to him before, but he supposed that the moment had passed. He let himself into his depressing house, glad that he would never have to see it again. By killing himself, he would rid Tony of worrying about him, would mean he wasn’t a bother to anyone anymore. And maybe he would finally get to rest, although Martin wasn’t really a believer of life after death. He wouldn’t take off his pilot’s uniform, he wanted them to find him in it, wanted to show people that despite everything he had managed to get his dream even though in the end it had been his downfall. When he picked through the debris of the smashed up food, he spotted the t-shirt Arthur had given him scrunched up on the bed. Without even thinking about it, he slipped it on over his work shirt and put his jacket back over it. It might look slightly ridiculous, the cheery shirt juxtaposed with his serious uniform, but despite his anger and sorrow he still wanted something of Arthur’s to cling on to. He reached into his pocket and took the photograph he had taken from Arthur’s room out, looking at Arthur’s beautiful tender face. He was no longer angry at him, merely regretful. He really hoped Arthur would find someone to make him happy, and knew he would be sad when they found this photograph on him. It couldn’t be helped; Martin wanted it as a talisman against the fear that was starting to hold him in its iron grip. He would be strong, finally strong and end it all. He reached for the first bottle. 

 

***

 

The door to Arthur’s room was unlocked, and he almost flung himself onto the person that opened it and was immediately glad he hadn’t because it was Minty.  
“Haven’t you got a wedding to be going to?” Arthur cried desperately.  
“Hmf. Glad to see you too. Gordon just told me to come and get you.” He tried to push past her but she grabbed his arm, squeezing it painfully.  
“Just a minute, hotshot. Gordon told me if you try any funny business then he’ll give you another black eye to match that pretty one you’ve already got.”  
Arthur flushed in embarrassment at her flippant disregard for Gordon’s violence. She turned to go down the stairs and he followed on nervously, wondering why his dad was still going through with this. When they got to the dining room, it was just Gordon and Hayley sat there, no party. Another lie, then.

“Sit down.”  
Arthur didn’t.  
“Make him sit down.”  
Minty moved to grab him. Arthur turned round and shocked them all by hissing,  
“If you touch me you will really, really regret it.”  
She moved away from him, it was disconcerting to see Arthur’s face screwed up in such anger. Gordon laughed.  
“Like mother like son, eh? I suppose this is the root of the problem. Too much of a mummy’s boy.” Hayley laughed, and Arthur turned on her.  
“You have no authority on the matter. Why are you with him? He’s horrible, and he just hurts everyone around him-“  
“Don’t you dare try and criticise my life, boy!”   
Gordon had risen from his chair and was advancing towards him.   
Arthur had balled his fists, staring up at his dad in defiance.  
“Going to hit me again, Dad? Will you only hit me because you know I won’t hit you back?”  
“I am sick of your attitude. I was trying to cure your dirty little problem-”  
“Love is not a problem! Why should it matter who I want to be with?”  
“I did not raise my child-“  
“You didn’t raise me! Mum raised me and I love her so much more-”  
The doorbell rang and they heard a loud thudding on the door. Gordon spoke, not taking his mean eyes off Arthur.  
“Get the door, Madeline.”

She rushed past, eager to escape the violent fray. Sadly for Minty, as soon as she opened the front door Douglas grew impatient at waiting and gave it a might shove; it smashed her against the wall and she fell on the floor. He felt a tiny bit bad about that, but couldn’t resist a snarky,  
“Oops, didn’t see you there!” As he stepped over her prone body on the floor. He and Carolyn rushed through the house, seeing Arthur and Gordon practically nose to nose. In his anger, Arthur seemed much taller than his father.  
“You lied to me. You lied to me, Dad. You told me if I did what you said then you wouldn’t hurt Martin.”  
“You were stupid enough to believe it.”  
Carolyn decided to intervene, her voice cracking loudly through the tense atmosphere.  
“Leave Arthur alone, you disgusting man!”  
Gordon looked at Carolyn with utter hatred, and the look was multiplied tenfold by Carolyn. Douglas was just surprised that when they were married that the world didn’t just set on fire.  
“And the freak show arrives.”  
“Don’t you dare speak to Mum like that. You, you aren’t fit to lick her boots.”  
“Don’t waste your words on her Arthur, I know I’ve already wasted too much- “  
“Stop! Just STOP!” Arthur was really shouting now, red in the face.  
“I want you to leave us all alone. I want you to never hurt us again.”

“I don’t need to do anything else; I’ve already destroyed Martin.”

Douglas stepped forwards, holding a piece of paper in his hands. Minty limped into the room and looked at it curiously with Gordon. He held it up to Gordon, a triumphant look on his face.  
“We are going to destroy you. Do you know what this is?”  
Gordon looked at him in contempt.  
“Something useless, no doubt.”  
“Oh no,” said Douglas sweetly. “It is very useful. On here is a list of all the people I know you’ve been getting Minty to smuggle drugs to and the names of people who are very willing to give me phone transcripts and CCTV records.”   
Minty gaped at Gordon in horror, and Douglas smiled evilly; through this guilty look, she had confirmed what he was saying was true. Gordon looked ready to throttle Douglas.  
“No one would believe you.”  
“Want to bet? Some of this stuff is very compromising.”  
“I don’t know what you want from me. What’s done to Martin is done; I can’t change it.”  
“Oh, we want nothing. Just to let you know you aren’t safe. There are so many things we could get you put down for; stealing G-ERTI, kidnapping Arthur. We even have a witness for that particular stunt.”

Gordon seemed to shrink at these threats, finally looking defeated. He turned to Arthur desperately.  
“Arthur, son. If you do this to me, they will take all my money away and you will have nothing. “  
Arthur looked at him sadly.  
“You really think I care about the money don’t you? You don’t know me at all.”  
Carolyn and Douglas began to move towards the door in triumph, glad they had finally got one over on Gordon.  
“See you in court. again.” Carolyn said with uncontained glee. Arthur loomed over his father, looking at him in pity.  
“I was so willing to forgive you Dad, but do you know what? I disown YOU. I am ashamed of you.”  
And with that, Arthur strode out of the room, his head held high. Douglas looked at him in wonder.   
“Seems he did inherit some of the Carolyn Sass, then.”  
Carolyn poked him, and he laughed. They joined Arthur in the hall and he looked at them with a face full of determination.  
“Let’s go and get Martin.”

***

 

The darkness that settled in his mind had become paramount, just like the old times before MJN. His mind kept on flicking to the unwanted locations. The lake. The road. The bridge. Spinning round those three locations like a nightmarish carousel, unable to get off or control the speed. He had drunk nearly all of the alcohol, just like his father then, and he couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at how old mistakes were always inevitably repeated. He didn’t have enough money, so he drank, and because he drank he had no money. He could feel it all ticking down, tick tick tick. The lake, the road, the bridge.  
After putting down his last bottle, he settled on the bridge. He wanted to fly one last time.

 

*** 

When Herc landed from his trip to Germany, he did as Carolyn had asked and immediately made his way to Martin’s shared house in Fitton. He squinted at the address on his phone and knocked on the door of a ramshackle house. A student opened it and stared in awe at this suave and authoritative pilot that knocked on the door; Herc hadn’t had enough time to put on his regular clothes. He put on his smoothest voice.  
“I am awfully sorry, but is Martin in?  
“Err…I-er, I haven’t seen him. But he might be in, do you want me to take you to his room?”  
“That would be lovely, thank you.”  
She thought it was strange that Martin had another guest, and she decided she would tell him about how he’d been that morning.  
“Do you work with Martin? He’s been acting a little…strange.”  
Herc stopped, concerned.  
“How so?”  
“Well, he had this guy round, Arthur I think, and he seemed happy. Well, happier than we’ve ever seen him, anyway. But this morning he looked awful and shouted at us. I don’t mean to be rude; we’re worried about him.”  
Poor Martin, thought Herc sadly. He always thought the world was out to get him, but people really did care.  
“Thank you for telling me. I’ve come to take care of him.”  
This made the girl feel much better about admitting this all to a perfect stranger.  
“Oh, good! Well, here it is.”

She left him there and he knocked on the door. To his surprise it began to fall open; Martin had forgotten to lock it. And yet, this seemed deliberate as he knew that Martin was a stickler for things like this and would never have left his door unlocked by accident. He made his way in, trying his best not to stand on the smashed up bits of food on the floor. He made it to Martin’s bed, but he already knew.  
Martin was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the crew managed to get their revenge on Gordon, and Arthur finally got to stand up to his horrible father! But where is Martin? Are they too late? The next chapter will be uploaded soonish.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this story is longer than 50,000 words- it truly is the longest thing I have ever written. It gives me a silly smile to know that people have enjoyed it, I was a bit nervous so thank you so much! 
> 
> Will they be in time? Ottery kisses on hand.

“The town is gonna talk, but these people do not  
See things through to the very minimal.  
But what's it gonna cost to be gone?  
If we see you like I hoped we never would.

When eyes can't look at you any other way,  
Any other way, any other way.”

-Detlef Schrepmf, Band of Horses.

 

“Herc, we have Arthur! Ooh, it was excellent; I shall tell you about it later. Bring Martin-“  
“Carolyn, Martin is not here.”  
Carolyn paused, and Douglas and Arthur turned to her in concern.  
“What, what do you mean he’s not there?”

Arthur’s eyes snapped towards Carolyn’s at this, and they exchanged a look of deep worry.  
“He isn’t in his room. There are loads of smashed food boxes on the floor, and oh God, loads of alcohol bottles…”  
Herc’s voice was loud in its distress and Douglas caught this.  
“Martin, drink? But...”  
But then he thought back to his own life when his first wife had left him, leading him to drink his troubles and depression away. The drink never helped, but it did numb some of the pain. He knew the signs, how could he have been so stupid?  
“Herc, meet us at the airfield. Perhaps he is there.”  
“Yes, I- I’ll be there soon.”  
She clicked her phone and saw that Arthur had gone very, very pale.  
“Mum, where is Skip?”  
“I don’t know. I hope he hasn’t done anything stupid.”

They drove quickly to the airfield and saw that Herc’s lime green car was already parked outside. He was talking to a woman who they had never seen before, yet she looked slightly familiar. She had dark red hair and a proud face; in fact, her lips were almost like-

“Oh hello, I’m Caitlin, Martin’s sister. Are you the people he flies with?”  
They stared at her in confusion. She was much taller than Martin, but one could tell that they were siblings. They hadn’t met her before, so she can’t have been particularly close to Martin. Why was she here?  
“Yes, I am Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, his boss. May I ask why you are here?”  
“I was wondering if you knew where Martin was? He sent me the strangest text.”  
She held up her phone and read,  
“’Dear Caitlin, I’m sorry and I know you will all be angry but it is for the best. Look after Mum.’ Has he been…acting strangely around you all recently?”  
Arthur was the first to recover his voice.  
“He has been a little sad, we haven’t, we haven’t seen him since before and he was pretty bad then.”  
She looked thoughtful at his words and seemed to be drawing from a memory.  
“He sent me a text like this before, a few years ago, in fact,” her voice suddenly turned horrified.  
“Have you guys checked Fitton yet? The bridge, maybe?”  
Douglas spoke, his voice laced with concern.  
“The bridge ? Whatever for? “  
She looked incredulously at their confused faces, and seemed to be bracing herself.  
“You don’t know, you honestly don’t know?”  
Carolyn grew impatient at her vagueness.  
“Don’t know what?”  
“When Martin failed his last flying exam, he told me and Mum he was going to jump off the bridge. We managed to stop him, but it was hell and he wouldn’t talk to us for weeks. I thought you needed to know these things when he applied.”  
The stared at each other, absolutely and utterly horrified. They hadn’t known this, they had never dreamt of this. They knew Martin had a difficult past, but they never thought he would actually try to kill himself. Arthur clasped a hand to his mouth in realisation.  
“My Dad knew- he said something about Martin being suicidal. Oh no, it’s all my fault, all my fault-“  
“Arthur, it’s not-“  
“Yes it is! It’s my fault and he’s going to, oh my God, what am I going to do? If he does it-“  
Arthur’s head was in utter turmoil, and he began to run out of the airfield. Douglas grabbed him.  
“Arthur, we are going to go together. We are going to stop him.”  
“LET ME GO, I NEED TO GO-“  
Arthur’s shriek was heart wrenching, and he was trying with all of his strength to break free from Douglas’s grip.  
“Arthur, listen to us-“  
“If he dies, Mum, I will never, ever, ever forgive myself. For as long as I live, oh Martin!”  
Arthur screamed this, and they had never seen him in such a distress. Carolyn could feel her mind beginning to crack as well; she would never stop blaming herself if Martin went through with it. Herc could barely speak, Martin’s sad room with all of the broken items and empty bottles was burned into his memory and it just reeked of desperation and he felt like a failure. Douglas thought if Martin really did kill himself then he would never be able to look in the mirror again and be proud of himself. Caitlin could not believe that it had gotten this bad for Martin again; she thought his life was back on track and she knew that she had failed him as a sister once again. She told them that she would drive, and they bundled into her car so that they could all go together. Arthur would not stop shaking, and although Douglas could barely hold himself together, he was trying his best to calm Arthur down.

“Arthur, you need to breathe-“  
“My fault, it’s all my fault-“  
“Shh, shh.”  
Carolyn cursed the fact that she had elected to sit in the front with Caitlin, and Herc picked up on this distress. He drew Arthur into his arms and stroked his head, attempting to soothe him and trying his best not to cry himself. Without Martin, life would be awful. Martin might think he was useless, but he was such a big part of MJN. It would literally collapse if he was gone. They had to save him, they had to. 

***

It was cold, so very cold on the bridge. Martin hadn’t bothered with a coat, he certainly wouldn’t be needing it where he was going, and the wind was biting. No one had taken any notice of him when he was walking on the bridge and he only began to attract strange looks when he climbed onto the side. He climbed onto a higher platform, and moved slowly towards the edge. This is when he started to attract glances; a man in an airline pilot’s outfit stood on the edge of a bridge with his eyes closed was not an everyday sight. Someone called from below,  
“You alright mate?”  
They sounded concerned; but Martin knew he was just pretending.  
“I-I’m I'm going to jump.”  
The whisper spread like wildfire, and soon a small crowd had gathered a short distance away. The man who spoke to him first called out again.  
“Don’t do it mate, think about what you have to live for.”  
Martin let out a strangled laugh.  
“Do you think I would be here if I had anything to live for?”

It was a fair point, and the man below was too stressed to think of anything to say to this. He was a fairly old man; he had children of his own and couldn’t bear to see someone waste their life like this. He rang the police and dutifully informed them what was going on, and the tired inspector informed him sadly that they would send someone.  
“And an ambulance?” The policeman paused, clearly thinking the morgue would be more appropriate, but said he would get one sent over. The man felt satisfied, but stayed to watch Martin just in case he could be convinced otherwise. 

Martin stared down at the roiling, icy water beneath, willing himself to jump. If he didn’t do it soon he knew he never would, but what was he waiting for? No one had even been there to stop him, not that that was surprising, but it hurt a little to slip away so quietly. He tried to ignore the gathering crowd, ignore the man that was pretending to help him. Yes, they may extend a hand today but they would just as quickly use it to slap him down tomorrow. He hovered at the edge, looking down, down, down.

 

***

 

Even though Herc’s stroking had served to calm down Arthur a bit, he was still worried about the gasps he could hear coming from the distressed steward. He knew Arthur was having a full blown panic attack, and they needed to get to the bridge as soon as possible. He looked around the car; Douglas looked absolutely devastated, staring out of the window as if trying to wake himself up from a nightmare, Carolyn had tears running down her face and Caitlin was gripping the wheel so tightly it was in danger of snapping off. She hadn’t told her Mum what Martin was planning to do, and she loathed to be the one to tell the family about how they had failed Martin again. 

Luck was not on their side; as they approached the bridge, they were caught in a massive traffic jam. It was so cruel, as they could see a crowd of people amassing at the foot of the bridge, and saw a few police cars parked on the pavement. Caitlin wound down her window and spoke to the car next to her who also had their window down.  
“Excuse me; do you have any idea why we are in this traffic jam?”  
The lady driving looked impatient, but spoke in a sad and weary voice.  
“Apparently someone’s shouting about jumping off the bridge so they’re stopping all cars from going across. Poor sod.”

Arthur looked up at these words, at the chaos of the road and let out a little moan.  
“I’ve got, I’ve got to-“  
Carolyn turned round.  
“Arthur, no-“  
But it was too late. Arthur had wrenched his seatbelt off and had clambered in desperation over the shocked Douglas, who was unable to stop him. He wrenched open the car door and fled from the vehicle.  
Caitlin decided to give up on the world, and to the amazement of the people around them, lurched the car onto the pavement. They all scrambled out and looked frantically to see where Arthur had disappeared to.

 

Arthur had run hell-bent from the car, his mind focused on one thing and one thing only: find Martin. He reached the outer ring of people, and they turned round in annoyance as he tried to push through; a policeman frowned and came over. Arthur was shouting,  
“Let me through, please let me through!”  
“Excuse me, son, this is a serious situation-“  
“I know him, oh please I know him!”  
The policeman took in his tear stricken, absolutely devastated face, and believed him. He ordered the people to let him pass, and they stared with eyes wide at his Steward’s uniform and deafening screams.  
“MARTIN, MARTIN, WHERE ARE YOU?”

Martin had his eyes closed again when he heard the loud shouts. He turned round in disbelief and saw Arthur next to the old man that had spoken to him before. Arthur looked ready to rush closer, but Martin spoke in a clear, cutting voice.

“If you come any closer I’ll fucking jump, I swear to God.”  
Arthur became rigid with shock at this violent outburst. The man looked at Arthur sadly; he had hoped that he would be able to convince the poor man not to jump, but apparently not. Arthur was so out of breath; he couldn’t speak for a moment and tears cascaded down his cheeks as he looked at Martin about to throw it all away.  
“Martin, please don’t do this.”  
“Why shouldn’t I, Arthur? What the hell do I possibly have to live for?”  
The crowd was watching them silently. They knew that if Arthur answered wrongly then this would just tip Martin over the edge. Arthur was utterly ashamed that his actions had driven Martin to this, so ashamed that Martin thought he didn’t deserve his love. His voice was quieter, but Martin could still hear it.  
“Me. You have me to live for.”  
At this, Martin scrunched up his face and balled his fists. He was so confused, so muddled about his feelings for Arthur, about whether he should hate or love him.  
“Arthur, what do you want from me? I-I think there’s something, and then you tell me it’s over. That you wanted it to be over.”  
“No, Martin, I never meant-“  
“Yes you did! You said you didn’t want to see me, and I know you can’t lie! You can’t, you can’t tell me you suddenly care just because you feel guilty now that I'm here about to smash my fucking head on some rocks!”  
Oh he was right, Arthur had been awful, and he had made him so convinced that he didn’t care. He tried wildly to explain.  
“No, Martin, you see, my dad told me if I was with you then he would make horrible things happen, so when I told you I didn’t want to be with you I wasn’t really lying because I didn’t want to be with you because I knew it would cause you damage. Oh, I’m not explaining properly!”

But Martin sort of understood. Arthur knew he had to act a part, but he was hopeless at lying and so had to convince himself that he didn’t want to be with Martin. Even though he did actually want to be with Martin, he had to convince himself that he didn’t want to be so he could go through with the charade.  
“So…so you did want to be with me? You don’t hate me?”  
Martin couldn’t help it; his eyes filled with tears as he saw a horrendously sad expression alight on Arthur’s beautiful face.  
“How could you think, how could you think that?”  
“Arthur, my whole life people have been telling me how useless I am, throwing me away when they became bored. I thought you were just doing the same. That’s why I have to do this. It will never change.” And Martin moved slightly closer to the edge. Arthur shrieked,  
“NO! Martin, if you do this, I’ll…I’ll jump too.”  
Everyone in the crowd gasped, including Carolyn, Douglas, Herc and Caitlin who had finally caught up with Arthur. Martin looked at him incredulously.  
“No you are NOT. For god’s sake, why can’t you all just let me die in peace? Why will no one let me do what I want?”  
Arthur stepped forward, and Martin froze. Martin took one hand from where it had been supporting him on the bridge, and the wobble towards the drop made Arthur stop.  
“Please Martin, don’t do this.”  
“Just give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”  
This was a direct reflection of the cruel words Arthur had said to Martin previously, and Arthur caught the hint. He caught Martin’s eyes directly, weeping green meeting cold and confused blue.  
“Because I love you.”

The words hung in the air, shimmering in the silence that they had caused. The people in the crowd almost thought that it was an elaborate set up, a kind of stunt or play, but they could see that Arthur truly looked ready to fall apart. Carolyn wondered if she should be worried about her son falling for her employed pilot, but felt nothing but pride despite the hopelessness of the situation. Arthur had savoured the words as they left his mouth, the words he had never gotten to say. Martin carried on staring at him, his voice a whisper.  
“You don’t mean that.”  
How could he still be so doubtful? Arthur knew he had been in love, but as he saw Martin so desperate and sad and wild and so alone, he felt like if he lost this then he would never smile again. He looked up at Martin and said in the most heart-breaking voice,  
“I want us to grow old together, Martin. I want it to be like the films where the old couple sit on the bench in the garden and laugh at how old they are now and how they are still so in love. If you do this, then I’ll be sat on that bench alone. If you do this, if you really do this, I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart and I will never stop, not even when I am alone on that bench. “

That was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to Martin. It cut through his drunken confusion and depression, cut through him like a shard of pure Arthur made joy.  
“I love you too, Arthur.”

Douglas and Carolyn stepped forward to support Arthur, who looked ready to fall down. Carolyn looked at Martin, tears still shining on her face.  
“Come back, Martin…please.”  
Douglas, who never begged, who always teased and who was never serious, had a face wet with tears.  
“Come back to your family.”  
Herc joined in.  
“We all love you.”

And Martin looked at them, truly looked at them. He supposed that you never knew what you had until you lost them, and he had nearly lost his MJN family. What was he doing up here, really? Trying to prove a point? He looked at all of their shiningly sad faces, and he could see that they had accepted that he was probably going to jump, but still respected him and his choices. He saw that they loved him and this is what gave him strength and hope to turn away from the drop. He began to step away from the side, then he saw everyones’ eyes widen in shock.

He slipped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry to end this chapter on such an evil cliffhanger. The things I make our poor characters do! Even I am nervous about posting the next one *waits for pitchforks*


	24. Chapter 24

“So take it as a song or a lesson to learn  
And sometime soon be better than you were  
If you say you're gonna go, then be careful  
And watch how you treat every living soul

My eyes can't look at you any other way,  
Any other way, any other way…”

 

Time was infinite, the world still spun but Martin did not feel it. As he fell, he was of two minds.  
One could only think “Well, now you’ve done it, you colossal berk. Changed your mind at the last minute and it happens anyway.” And also “I’m so tired, so tired. Just let it end.” 

But, the world was not yet finished with Martin Crieff. Although the fall looked absolutely horrific for those stationed on the bridge watching him, he began to fall more onto the bridge rather than over the edge. Arthur, with a clarity that burned through his mind through the sludge of the slowing time, had leapt without thinking and had grabbed the back of Martin’s jacket, preventing him from going forwards and changing the trajectory of his fall backwards. It was an ambitious leap and Arthur was close to going over the edge with him, but they both started to fall back onto the bridge. Martin smashed onto the intensely hard stone of the bridge and felt his head crack as it met the unforgiving ground, and he landed with all of his weight on his arm which burst immediately with pain. It was still a distance to the floor from where he had been threatening to jump from, and the impact was immensely painful. But he was alive, mercifully alive. Arthur was bruised, but unhurt and immediately lifted off of the floor and directly to Martin’s side, his mouth frozen into a little ‘o’ of shock. Many people on the bridge had screamed as Martin seemed to fall, and people rushed towards them and formed a ring a couple of metres away. 

Martin’s head hurt so much; he thought he was going to pass out. Oh god, what if he died now after all that? But he thought that was perhaps being too dramatic. He couldn’t see the blood blending in with his fiery red hair that was fanned out on the ground, couldn’t work out why Arthur was bending over him with tears dropping on his face. He tried to speak, his words coming out in a bit of a muddle.  
“Art-Arthur…love…love you.”

One of the policemen mentioned something about moving Martin, and Arthur didn’t listen.  
He bent down, took hold of Martin’s head and kissed him intensely, his attempt at fixing all of the wrongs that he had caused, desperately wishing that his kisses would be enough to heal him.  
He ignored the crowds; for now it was just him and Martin. He could feel his hands becoming wet with blood, could see Martin’s arm at a strange angle, but Martin responded with a strength that screamed that he was going to fight. Douglas smiled with an infinite mix of sadness and joy as he watched them; it had been a long time in coming, and they deserved it. Carolyn had buried her face into Herc’s shoulders, and both of their body’s heaved with combined sobs of relief and horror. Caitlyn was so glad, so very glad that her brother was safe, and as soon as Martin was well she was going to force him to come home so that the family could smother him with love and ensure that this never happened again. 

Arthur finally drew away from Martin’s lips, and they pressed their foreheads together, eyes closed. Arthur’s body finally reacted to the shock he felt, and he shook so hard that he could feel Martin vibrate with it.  
“Never…never do that again…”  
Martin smiled a blazing smile, an expression very much at odds with his broken body and bloodied clothes, but it was the happiest expression anyone had seen on him in a long time.  
“I won’t. I’m, I’m happy now.”

And he truly looked it. Even when the ambulance crew finally made it through the crowds of people and loaded him onto the stretcher, he looked like a man that had found a goldmine after searching his whole life for a nugget. And Arthur shone next to him, the most precious piece of gold on Earth. He stared at the stretcher with such intensity that the ambulance crew knew there was no point in refusing to let him follow them. He remained by Martin’s side as they walked; he followed them into the ambulance and Carolyn declared that as his mother she would not allow him to go alone. They gave them both a shock blanket each when they were inside and the last thing Martin said before he went out cold was that it was a sunny yellow just like Arthur. That made Arthur smile, and Martin’s eyes closed serenely for the moment. As soon as Martin fell asleep, Arthur sagged and Carolyn held him so that he would not fall from his seat. As he stumbled slightly, Arthur spotted that Martin was wearing his orange t-shirt underneath his uniform, and the thought of Martin remembering him when he was thinking of killing himself made his sobs start anew. Carolyn kissed his head again and again, wondering why she didn’t do this more often. Arthur’s strength and courage had impressed her; if he had grabbed Martin at the wrong moment, they both could have been dragged over the edge.   
“I’m proud of you, Arthur.”  
“Thank you, Mum. Love you.”  
“I love you too, you wonderful, wonderful boy.”  
The ambulance crew smiled as Arthur snuggled against Carolyn, thinking how nice it was that a mother and son should get along so well. 

Herc, Douglas and Caitlin were in a police car behind the ambulance, as the police had seen their uniforms and had kindly told them that if they gave them a ride then they would get to the hospital faster. When they were settled into the car and on their way to the hospital, Caitlin was the first to speak.  
“Wow. I didn’t know Martin had a boyfriend.”  
“It’s not a problem, is it?” Douglas sounded tired rather than angry.  
“Oh, God no! I knew Dad had a bit of a problem with it, but Mum has always wanted him to be happy. We all have. “  
She began to weep, her self-control finally breaking, and Herc put a warm hand on her shoulder.  
“Don’t blame yourself, Caitlin. We are all a bit to blame, and even though it sounds a bit cruel, so is Martin. We just need to make sure that he is happy now.”  
She nodded, and her voice had a dreamlike quality to it.  
“That guy…Arthur. What he said was the most romantic thing I have ever heard. I’m so glad Martin has him.”  
Douglas finally cracked a smile, feeling so proud of Arthur.  
“Yes, Arthur the old romantic. Must have picked up a few tricks off me, the sly devil.”  
This set them all off into a fit of giggles, an attempt to ward away the darkness of the day.

When they arrived at Fitton hospital, the ambulance crew told Arthur gently that they needed to take Martin for a moment, but he would see him soon. Arthur looked ready to fight for a moment, but Carolyn touched his arm lightly and he realised the wisdom of this. He looked at the paramedic closest to him, a kindly looking lady with glasses. He spoke fiercely.  
“Take care of him.”  
She smiled, and then looked at him seriously.  
“We will, don’t you worry about it. “  
He nodded, and Martin was moved out of the ambulance. Arthur stared until the bright ginger hair was too far away for him to see. The other three emerged from the police van and saw Arthur stumbling out of the ambulance with Carolyn, covered in blood and looking exhausted. They knew he should be cleaned up, but they knew with even more certainty that Arthur would refuse to leave the hospital. They knew that despite his sunny personality, Arthur was really as stubborn as Carolyn, and they loved him for it. The hospital had a facility for washing the patients, and they very kindly let them take Arthur into it and clean him up a bit. Even though Arthur was nearly thirty, Carolyn was reminded of when he was a little boy and she had to sponge dirt off his face when he went off exploring god knows what. He still crinkled his nose as she scrubbed the warm cloth onto his face, and it made her laugh.  
“Stay still, Arthur! If you wriggle around it will just take longer!”  
“Eww, it’s getting in my eye!”  
At this, Douglas and Herc both grabbed a cloth each and attempted to rub Arthur’s face. He was terribly ticklish, and after a little while started laughing so loudly that a nurse popped her head round the corner. She surveyed the room with a perplexed glance; Arthur was now sat on the floor with everyone bending down attacking his face with cloths to try and make him giggle more.

“Um, Mr Shappey?”   
They all shot back up, Carolyn straightening her jacket and trying to look a bit more like a professional adult. But the nurse just grinned at them, happy that the slightly morose looking group had cheered up somewhat.   
“We were just…cleaning up.” Herc said sheepishly.  
“No, it’s fine! Good to have a bit of a giggle sometimes! Anyway, I’ve just come in to tell Arthur Shappey that when he’s ready he can go to the waiting room on Ward Six.”  
Arthur’s face immediately creased in worry.  
“Oh no, is there something wrong?”  
At his stricken expression, the nurse felt a little bad.  
“I haven’t heard anything yet, I'm just telling you so that you can find the ward without any trouble.”  
She was shocked at the full blast of an Arthur Shappey grin.  
“Thank you so much, I think I might go and wait now, actually.”

They all left with Arthur and thanked the still smiling nurse. Arthur couldn’t resist waving a cheery wave and chirping an enthusiastic “Hello!” to any staff member or patient he saw, and the hospital seemed all the more sunny for it. They could tell that Arthur would have a fine time here, as there were so many people for him to cheer up and chat to. Of course, when Arthur got to the waiting room, he couldn’t sit still, so the nurse on duty told him that there were some people on the ward who hadn’t had many visitors. He immediately shot up and went over to two old ladies who were lay next to each other on hospital beds. They at first seemed suspicious that a stranger wanted to talk to them, but at Arthur’s enthusiasm and eagerness to speak they were soon merrily chatting. Carolyn, Douglas and Herc settled on the waiting room’s plastic chairs; they knew they were in for a long wait, but they were happy as long as Martin was fine. Carolyn looked over at Arthur in wonder.  
“How on earth did I manage to raise such a lovely child?”  
It was a massive compliment, especially as Arthur was often reduced to ‘idiot’ and ‘clot’. Herc put his arm around her.  
“Good parenting.”   
Douglas affected mock disgrace.  
“As well as devastatingly excellent friends.”   
They laughed and Carolyn turned to Douglas seriously.  
“Douglas, when this is all over, do you want to come over with Martin to have a little celebration?”  
“Yes, of course. I would love that.”  
Carolyn looked uncomfortable for some reason, and this immediately piqued Douglas’s interest. She swallowed her pride.  
“And also…if you ever need anyone to talk to or just a place to go and see friends…well, you are always welcome.”  
Douglas was absolutely touched. Where was the angry old she-devil that constantly moaned at her sneaky first officer?  
“I would…like that.”  
Carolyn nodded, slightly embarrassed.  
“Good…as long as you don’t try and steal any more of my alcohol. I’m onto your sneaky ways, fingers.”  
Ah there it was, and Douglas wouldn’t have it any other way.  
“Try? Richardson’s do not have to try; the world merely falls at our feet.”  
“And that is the sad, sad truth of this world.”

They spent the next few hours with comfortable banter and many cups of tea and coffee. Eventually, a nurse hovered over to where they were sat.   
“Is a Mr Arthur Shappey here? I’ve been told he can see Mr Crieff.” Her face was impassive, revealing nothing, and Herc said he would just go and get Arthur from down the ward.  
He walked slowly down towards the beds and placed a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. One of the ladies looked at him in interest.  
“Ooh, who’s this then?”  
“Hello, I’m Herc Shipwright, and this is Arthur, my son.”  
At these words, Arthur looked up at Herc with such pure happiness that he was surprised he didn’t float into the air surrounded by rainbows.  
“Well, Mr Shipwright. You are a very lucky man to have such a pleasant son.”  
“Oh, the very luckiest. Arthur, we can go and see Martin now.”  
Arthur’s face had a mixture of fear and joy, but the ladies patted his hand fondly in turn.  
“Oh, is that your boyfriend you were telling us about? Send him our love!”  
“Yes it is, he is the most wonderful, beautiful, brilliant man in the world. I hope you get better, Joyce and Betty!”  
They waved goodbye, and Arthur made his way with Herc down the ward. Arthur looked up at him with a hopeful smile.  
“Did you really mean what you said about being my…dad?”  
“I hope I didn’t presume anything. But I would like that.”  
Arthur spoke softly, his voice filled with hope.  
“I would love that.”

They reached where the others were sat, and they nervously walked to the new ward, Arthur in front. When they were let in, they saw Martin looking very small on a hospital bed, his arm in a sling and his head bandaged, looking immensely tired but aware. Arthur sat down on the chair next to him and took his uninjured hand.  
“Skip, is it, are you…”  
“Turns out I broke my arm. Looks like I won’t be flying for a while.”   
He sounded sad and his voice was incredibly weak, but Carolyn spoke up.  
“You, young man, are going to have a nice long holiday. Don’t you dare worry about the mess Gordon has made; Douglas will sort it out even if he has to stay up all week.”  
“Cheers Carolyn, but it’s true. You have as much time to recover as possible Martin; we don’t want you to worry anymore.”  
Martin looked around at their faces, so eager to please and so worried that they might upset him. He couldn’t help it; he began to cry again, and this made his head throb.  
“I’m so sorry, I’ve been such an idiot-“  
But his words were cut off as Arthur bent closer towards him and kissed his lips and spoke, punctuating every word with a kiss.  
“Martin Crieff. You are not an idiot.”  
Although it was still rather surreal watching Arthur kiss Martin, it made the others very happy to see them so in love, and they looked at each other with silly grins. Even in his state they could see Martin only had eyes for Arthur. Arthur stopped kissing him when he remembered that Martin’s head was bandaged.  
“Oh, your poor head! Was that my fault for grabbing you?”  
“Arthur, I’d be dead if you hadn’t. You saved my life.”  
“Yes, you are basically a hero.”  
Arthur blushed at these kind words, waving them away. 

“I only did what I had to do to repair the mess I made. I’m sorry for making you feel like you had to do that, Martin. I’m going to make sure you never, ever feel that way again.”   
Arthur stared at him so intently, that the others rather thought it was time to leave them. Arthur clearly wasn’t going to move from Martin’s bedside, and they didn’t want to overcrowd him. To everyone’s surprise, Carolyn leaned over and gave Martin a brief peck on the cheek.  
“Get well soon, Martin. And remember- just because you are basically my son in law now doesn’t mean I will tolerate laziness!”  
Although Carolyn made for a truly terrifying mother in law, Martin couldn’t think of a better one. He felt flattered, as he knew this was Carolyn’s way of saying that she accepted the relationship.  
“Cheers Carolyn, can I call you Mum?”  
“Not if you want your other arm.”  
Only Carolyn could get away with making a joke like that in a hospital to a post-suicidal man, and he loved her for it. Douglas got up and grasped his shoulder.  
“Martin, words cannot express how happy I am to have you here now. I don’t have wings you know, although I'm sure I would be excellent at flying.”  
“You would, you miserable sod. Thanks for helping me, I really appreciate it.”  
Douglas nodded, and it was Herc’s turn.  
“Caitlin said she was going to come later; she said she needed to tell your Mum about it.”  
“Oh god, poor Mum. I shouldn’t have done this to her after what happened with Dad.”  
“It’ll be fine, Martin. We are all just so glad you are here. If you ever need us, if there is anything you need, please just ring.”  
“Thank you, Herc. I promise I will, and I’ll keep this promise this time.”

And so, they all left. Arthur stared at Martin for a moment, stroking his uninjured hand in wonder.  
“I can’t believe I nearly lost you.”  
“It isn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have misunderstood you.”  
“I should have stood up to my father in the first place. But it doesn’t matter now, all’s that matters is that we are here now and I can finally love you just like I’ve always wanted.”  
Martin looked up at Arthur, so frail, but so hopeful.  
“Come here.”  
“What, on the bed? Won’t I hurt you?”  
“You couldn’t possibly. Come on, my big bear.”

Arthur carefully lowered himself onto the edge of the bed and curled his body around Martin’s, careful to avoid touching his poor arm. Martin couldn’t move much, so Arthur put his hands round his waist and settled into his warm body, the jigsaw clicking once more into place. Martin couldn’t believe that he had nearly thrown this all away, and savoured Arthur’s touch as much as possible. He could hardly comprehend that he could be facing a whole lifetime of this, being in Arthur’s embrace. He could feel his eyes closing in content and sleep threatened to overwhelm him. Just before he succumbed, he turned to Arthur as much as he could with his head all bandaged up.  
“Arthur, do you remember the time you told me about when you are spending time with the love of your life under the moonlight worrying about when it’s going to end?”  
“Yes Skip, why?”  
“I’m not worrying.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I was really evil, did you? Of course, when I was writing this there were a few, let's say, alternative endings, but this one made me happiest :)   
> There's only the epilogue left now, that you for sticking through this with me everyone! You are all wonderful!  
> Note: Did anyone catch the "Herc said sheepishly"? I'm sorry....I couldn't resist!


	25. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very special thanks to Caramelkaren, Flubber2kool, Elfenfeuer33, Starlithorizon, Finnemoreshusband, Codered, AxeMeAboutAxinomancy and Muddpie (I hope I haven't missed anyone out!) for your support and comments on this story! It has really inspired me to write, which I was rather reluctant to try before! Thank you to everyone who has left kudos or who havs read this. Please, enjoy the epilogue!

“My eyes can’t look at you any other way.”

 

Martin stayed in the hospital for two weeks so they could monitor his slight concussion and ensure that his arm set properly. Arthur stayed by his side for the whole time holding his hand, and he must have been the only person in the history of the world to not mind staying in the hospital for constant days on end. They were very sorry to see him go; he was like a light in the somewhat dull rooms of the hospital, chatting to patients and cheering up doctors and nurses. The receptionists and nurses soon knew him by name, and Martin was very proud when he overheard them speaking of ‘that lovely boy Arthur.’ He became a minor celebrity, as Arthur had of course told everyone about his brilliant boyfriend and they were eager to meet him. The nurses of course knew why he had been admitted to hospital and had to be on suicide watch, but it was clear to see that with Arthur’s help, he was coming on in leaps and bounds. Still, they gave him the numbers of many helplines just in case and advised him to see a therapist, which he was grateful for rather than resentful because he knew they were worried and just wanted to help. Arthur was a bit like a therapist himself, listening to Martin’s problems without judgement.

Even though he had been in hospital, he had never been so happy.

The mess over him being suspended was sorted out, somehow Douglas had managed to convince the policemen that it had been a vicious prank and he knew he owed Douglas a massive debt, although Douglas for once waved this away nonchalantly. He got Gordon to support him on this, however unwillingly he did it, as they still had a massive hold on Arthur’s father. They hadn’t taken him to court over the drugs scandal yet; they were going to wait for it all to die down a bit. Gordon and Minty had both stayed far away, the last they heard Minty was finally married and was having a miserable honeymoon with an angry husband who had heard how she and Gordon had been thwarted, meaning he could no longer make money from drugs laundering.

 

When they were finally discharged from the hospital, they had got the children’s ward to make Arthur a large, glittery card to say thank you as he often went there to play with the sick children when Martin was unavailable. He accepted it with delight, and he and Martin laughed as they had gotten them to draw a tall and sparkling Arthur holding a very small and orange crayon haired Martin’s hand over an aeroplane, both in their uniform. Martin was so grateful that he had finally been accepted in having a boyfriend, and they wouldn’t let them go until they kissed. They cheered, and Arthur promised they would visit soon. Behind the desk, one of the receptionists whispered to the other one that they had better be invited to their inevitable wedding. 

***

 

Martin and Arthur got a taxi back to Arthur’s house, as they had planned to go back there to discuss Martin’s living arrangements. Arthur had a double bed; a lovely squishy double bed that he insisted had enough room for a tiny Skip. Skip resented being called tiny, but the thought of spending an unguessed amount of time with Arthur in a bed that was finally big enough for both of them was a lovely thought indeed. Arthur had forgotten his keys, so they were let in by Carolyn who smiled at them a genuinely lovely smile as she opened the door. She led them into the front room, and they stood in shock as there hung a large, colourful banner saying “Welcome back!” and was filled with all sorts of people including: Herc, Douglas, Carl, Caitlin, Wendy, Simon, Martin Davenport, and for some really weird reason, Mr Birling who already looked merrily sloshed in the corner. There was a large trestle table absolutely filled with food; the nurses had had a quiet talk with Carolyn asking if Martin was anorexic, so she had taken it upon her as pushy mother in law to initiate the task of filling him up. Wendy, Martin’s Mum, enjoyed sharing this role, and she and Carolyn got on extremely well to everyones’ amusement. Although Wendy was a slightly mild lady, she loved Carolyn’s bad streak and announced that it was nice to have a lady friend who didn’t just talk to her about the WI meetings or cats. And Wendy adored Arthur, who said when he first met her at the hospital that she looked just as sweet and Skippy and brilliant as he thought she would be, and how he would let her watch whatever she wanted on the telly. Simon was very glad that Martin had found such a nice chap at last, and lifted up Arthur after he had done his customary lifting up and swinging round of Martin. Unlike Martin, Arthur loved being lifted up and spun around like an aeroplane, so a swift friendship was soon made. 

Even though some of the people in the room could only be said with a stretch of the imagination to be their friends, it was a merry affair and everyone was glad to see them. It was a funny thing to see gentle and silly Arthur holding on to Martin with such protection, and everyone in the room could see his eyes burning with a pure and utter love. Even though Martin had had bit of time to get used to it, he still couldn’t believe that he had the love of this wonderful, mad man. He still felt like he didn’t deserve him, and Arthur knew that he thought this and resolved to show Skip that he did deserve him, so much. 

There was a large cake on the table in the shape of an aeroplane, and when he saw it Arthur shrieked,  
“Look, even G-ERTI’s joining in!”  
Douglas smiled and looked smug. Martin turned to him in exasperation.  
“Don’t tell me…you baked this? You can bake?”  
“Oh Martin, did I not tell you about the time that I had a part time job in a bakery and the manager wept when he discovered I was heading off to medical college?”  
“Git. You do realise Arthur’s going to ask you to make cakes for him forever now?”  
“Yes, that is why I kept this certain talent under wraps. Oh well, maybe I shall take him on as an apprentice.”  
Arthur caught these words and looked at Douglas with a face shining with joy.  
“Oh my gosh, we could make cupcakes with otters on and lemon tarts and little gingerbread Skips because of his ginger hair, and-“  
Carolyn had joined them with a plate full of food and had been listening with an unimpressed expression.  
“Dear God, I already have one precarious business. Please do not add a bakery to it.”  
“But Carolyn, think of the beauty of it. We could call it ‘G-ERTI’s Goods’ or ‘Shappey Days’.”

Carolyn shuddered, but laughed at the thought of Douglas attempting to get Arthur to bake. She had tried it numerous times in the past, and she relished the thought of Douglas trying to get Arthur to measure things rather than his favourite method of just guessing how much he needed. He claimed it made the result more fun, but Carolyn thought Arthur’s creations were frightening enough without this aspect of mystery. She passed a plate to Martin.  
“Eat. I have not organised all of this food just so we can gawp at it.”

He took it gratefully and turned to the magnificent banquet. Arthur piled his high with cakes and pizza, and chatted to Martin incessantly, sometimes plucking tempting items of the table and placing them on Martin’s plate for him. Soon Martin had a wobbling pile of food, but Arthur reached over for one last tantalising item and placed a bakewell tart on the top. Martin looked at him, remembering when Arthur had gone to his flat and they had eaten these together, and Arthur smiled at him to let him know that he remembered as well. When they got to the sofa, Arthur placed his plate of food onto an easily reachable table and pulled a protesting Martin into his lap. But of course he didn’t move off, and settled down munching his food contentedly on Arthur’s lap. As his arm was in plaster which had Arthur’s name written all over it and several smiley faces on, he rested the plate on his legs and shovelled the food into his mouth with the other hand. When he was struggling to eat a large and unwieldy slice of pizza, Arthur grabbed it out of his hands and put it in Martin’s mouth for him, much to his surprise. This made them giggle, and Wendy and Carolyn turned to look at the source of this noise. Carolyn shook her head.

“Look at them. Like a pair of schoolgirls.”  
“I know. I’d say get a room, but I thought Mum’s wanted to hold onto their boys for as long as possible.” Suddenly, her expression turned serious. She turned to Carolyn and took her hand.  
“Carolyn, I just wanted to say thank you. You all saved my boy.”  
“Well, it was Arthur really.”  
Wendy shook her head vigorously.  
“You all saved him. You saved him when you let him become a pilot. I know we didn’t…encourage Martin enough, but you finally let his dream happen and for that I cannot thank you enough.”  
Carolyn felt rather guilty; she couldn’t accept this thanks.  
“I still can’t pay him. I feel awfully about it.”  
“It will work out. I feel that with Arthur, somehow it will.”  
Carolyn couldn’t help but agree with this, and Herc emerged with drinks for them all. He watched Martin and Arthur on the sofa, so engrossed in each other and so completely happy.  
“Ah, young love. At least our mature love can have a bit of sophistication.”  
“Who are you calling mature?”  
Carolyn picked up a piece of cake and smushed it into Herc’s mouth. He stared at her in shock, then reciprocated the favour.  
“I love you, Carolyn. Even with cake on your face. Especially with cake on your face.” She smiled and they sat down on the sofa to chat, cake covered faces and all. 

***

 

They had a lovely time, moving round the room and talking to different people. Martin wasn’t sure how many people knew what had happened, but he was fairly sure that that people had put two and two together because there had been an article in the local newspaper about a pilot who had tried to jump off a bridge. Apparently they had tried to get a quote off Arthur, but Carolyn had given the reporter such a look that he had scurried away as fast as he could. It didn’t matter, thought Martin. What mattered was that these people had come to see him. He finally realised that people did care about him after all, and it made him feel very foolish that he had almost realised this too late.  
The day wore on, and as it became dark Carolyn announced that it was time to cut the cake. Arthur was very sad about this at first, as it really was a marvellous creation, but they took plenty of pictures of him and Martin with it, so he was content to eat it in the end. Martin looked nervous at being given the responsibility to cut into the beautiful icing, so Arthur put his large hand on Martin’s small one and they cut it together. Everyone cheered, and the cake was dished out to everybody. Arthur snapped so many pictures of people eating the cake and having fun that he would soon have enough to adorn all four walls in his room, but Martin couldn’t wait to see the photos of him for once. He didn’t mind as long as he was with Arthur. 

Carolyn and Arthur’s house had wooden decking leading into the garden, so when people started on the drinks and a comfortable hum of evening conversation had settled on the room, Arthur took Martin’s hand and led him into the garden. Martin was not at all surprised to see that he had an amazing looking swing chair on the grass with plentiful cushions, and although the night wasn’t particularly warm, they both settled onto it. Arthur pushed the ground gently with his foot, and the chair rocked smoothly, the gentle rhythm making Martin feel very relaxed. They both stared up idly at the sky, which was beginning to become very dark. They waited in a comfortable silence, Arthur stroking Martin’s hair delicately with one hand and holding onto his hand with the other. After a time, Arthur pointed up in delight when they spotted the first stars winking into existence. They may not be as majestic as they were in the clear inky skies of Lanzarote, but the stars in the sky of Fitton were beautiful nonetheless. 

“Skip, do you reckon if we flew G-ERTI high enough we’d be able to see them better?”  
“That’s not really how aeroplane’s work, Arthur. But you know what; I think I prefer seeing them down here with you. Everything seems so much brighter with you.”  
And Arthur reached his head down and drew Martin into a long kiss, their lips meeting sweetly, and it was a long time before they broke away. The stars above looked down on them, twinkling merrily, and they lay watching two that were paired fairly close together. Arthur put his head onto Martin’s, speaking softly.

“Looks like we’ve already found our bench to grow old on.”  
And Martin knew exactly what he meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we've had the 'Travelling Pug', not so Minty freshness, Herc being sheepish and the rise and fall of the evil overlord Gordon Shappey. It's been a blast, and if you want to find me I'm on tumblr too:  
> http://thehappygnome.tumblr.com/  
> Also, Starlithorizon- I swear I wrote the bit about baking days ago- great minds think alike eh eh!


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